My Life In Bayville
by Animelover210
Summary: The Sequel to 'Never Met A Mutant Like Her.' Drama! Romance! Suspense! With Melanie and Melinda's family getting more involved in their lives, things go from normal to crazy to just plain nuts! But with the Brotherhood, its expected. ToadxOC KurtxOC
1. Chapter 1

_**Last time on **__**A Mutant Like Her**_

_Megan was unusually quiet as she stared at her notebook. _

_"You okay, Meg Nogg?"_

_"Stop calling me that, Mandy."_

_"Why?" she said sitting next to her. "That's our thing on set. You're Meg Nogg and I'm Mandy Bars."_

_"I've been...thinking..."_

_All of the sisters, as well as the eavesdroppers, listened to Megan. _

_"I...want to get out of the movie biz."_

**Here's the continuation!!**

"What?!"

"Are you serious?!"

"Why?!"

The eavesdroppers looked at each other shocked.

"Jubilee! What happened when they were hanging out?!" Bobby asked.

Bobby was the mutant that had the ice power Melanie used on Toad. He had light brown hair, brown eyes, and loved flirting with girls.

"I don't know! I didn't go with them!"

Megan groaned and got up.

"I knew you guys would freak out."

"But what are you going to do?"

"I thought we would always do this for each other!" Mandy said getting up. "I get roles and then you would be my stunt double!"

"Well maybe I want to try being a normal girl for a change. I don't like everyone thinking I'm the gruff one. Maybe...I could be a little more feminine by sticking around here."

A silence swayed over the room. Melinda and Melanie were happy Megan wanted to break away from the glamour but couldn't understand her sudden decision. Mandy, Melody, and Maya...they all had different feelings.

Melody was going to France in a few months and was hoping to ask Megan to be a decoy and bodyguard. Maya was excited Megan was finally making herself her own person but wondered what she could possibly gain from this.

Mandy was heartbroken. Megan and her had always done everything together. As soon as Mandy started acting, Megan was right there with her!

Megan sighed and left the room. She immediately saw Logan glaring at the New Recruits were outside. They ran off and Logan waved Megan into Professor Xavier's study.

"Charles, this one wants to get out of show buisness."

"Megan? That's odd. Have a seat."

She looked around nervously as she sat down.

"Is there a problem?"

"I've...been having...difficulty."

"Your power is super strength."

"Yeah and...I feel like I have to treat everything like glass. If I accidently grip a pencil too tight, it snaps into pieces. I want to figure this out before I grip something worse too tight. A remote control, a fragile antique...a hand."

Charles looked a little startled. Had she developed feelings for someone?

"I have no objections about you staying. Are your other sisters?"

"No. Maya, Melody, and Mandy will be leaving later in the week."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fred was sitting in his room, throwing darts at a picture of Scott Summers. Since the kiss, he and Megan haven't talked.

*Flashback*

_Fred nervously kissed Megan. Her hair fell down her face and onto his. He could smell her faint perfume. Megan put one hand behind Fred's neck and deepened the kiss. _

_She pulled away and stared into Fred's nervous eyes. Her eyes turned to the size of dinner plates. _

_"I-I have to go!" she yelled getting up and running. _

_"M-Megan!"_

*End Flashback*

He sighed and hit Scott in the nose. Why was she in such a hurry? Did he do something wrong?

Fred hit himself in the head.

"I must've had bad breath or somethin'! No wonder she was so freaked!"

Of course that couldn't be it but he could pretend for now it wasn't because of how he looked.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Brotherhood went to school with sleep still covering their eyes. Excluding Pietro who only took five minutes to get ready in the morning. Toad yawned and looked for the group of identical girls.

"Where's Sugar Plum?" he whined.

Pietro smacked Toad.

"You need to calm down. The X-men still don't know what's going on between you two. If you keep making yourself into a broadcaster, everyone's gonna know!"

"It ain't like I'm ashamed of her! I'd shout it from the rooftops!"

"Yeah and then you'd get your sorry ass kicked by the X-men."

Toad leaned in his spot where the Brotherhood hung out before homeroom. It was close to all of their classes and right by the cafeteria.

"I wonder where the girls are."

"As long as Maya and Mandy lay off of me," Lance said shaking.

"Most guys would kill to be in that position."

Fred looked around the cafeteria and saw Megan sitting by herself doing some last minute homework. He walked over and loomed over her.

"Um...Megan?"

She looked up with a tint of fear in her eyes.

"Can we walk after school, Freddie?"

"O-Okay. Where?"

"Outside by the old lab. You know where-"

"Y-Yeah. I've been there before."

She smiled as he went back to the Brotherhood. Melanie was there talking to Toad.

"My sisters are leaving tomorrow."

"That stinks. You upset, Pietro?"

He sniffled.

"N-No. It's not like we were getting that close."

Melanie hugged Pietro.

"Don't worry. Its just for the fall season."

"That's forever in the fashion world!"

Toad got between Pietro and Melanie.

"Okay! Less touchy for him and more for me!"

"Your sisters are going back?" Fred asked shocked. "But they just got here!"

"It was actually kind of Megan's idea. She thought it would be best for everyone to get back into the swing of things back home."

The bell rang for homeroom.

"Aw man, I want to go home."

Melanie giggled and kissed her depressed boyfriend.

"But then you wouldn't be able to meet me in our spot during lunch."

Toad perked up and smiled.

"Let's go! A day of fine education awaits!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fred zoned out in most of his classes. Was Megan going to tell him they wouldn't have a chance and that she was leaving? Was she saying how she never wanted to see him again? Maybe he wanted to just be friends and exchange phone numbers.

Anything was better than being rejected but he couldn't hope for much.

He envied Toad so much.

Melanie was a great girl and he was more than lucky to be with her. He had a rough childhood, given that he always looked pale and sick. No one wanted to play with him all that much. Once, he said how a group of older kids threw him in the mud and first introduced him to bugs. If he ate some, they would leave him alone. After a while, he just developed a taste for them.

But Melanie was more interested in Toad than any other couple in school. She would kiss him and hug him as if he was the hottest celebrity. Melanie always had compliments for him and would be more than happy to sneak off for a late night bug catch. The weirdest/ sweetest thing she did was hang a light bulb outside the back porch of the Brotherhood house to attract bugs at night. Except Toad accidently burnt his tongue on it when a bug landed on it.

The sound of a bell brought him out of his daze out the window. Was school over already? He hoped he never had to think that question ever again.

He got up out of his seat and could already feel his heart racing. As the students rushed to get to their cars and the buses, he thought of what the possible events could happen.

This wasn't the end of the world... it wasn't...as if he started liking her or anyting.


	2. Chapter 2

Fred walked into the old lab and remembered how Toad found this weird machine that sent stuff to another dimension. Megan was sitting on an old table.

"Fred," she said getting down and pulling her hair behind her ears.

"I heard that you guys are heading back to your careers."

"S-Sort of," she said looking to the side. "I'm...not."

He took a step back. She was staying?

"That's great!" he accidently blurted out.

She smiled and went closer to him.

"I want to get better control of my powers and... be here."

He blushed and started stuttering.

"Wh-What about your career?"

"There'll be time for that after I grow up. I'm not exactly in my thirties and in a mess of trouble."

"Y-Yeah. Or worse. You could be Mr. Finch, who still lives with his parents."

She laughed.

"Its hard to believe a physics teacher could still live there!"

They laughed as they tried to figure out where to go from there.

"Um...so you are staying, right?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to stay at Xavier's?"

"Yes."

"And-"

She lifted her hands to her face.

"Just kiss me already."

Fred leaned down and kissed her.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Melanie and Todd were making out on the Brotherhood sofa. Lance was upstairs in his room, on the phone with Kitty, while Pietro was in a makeshift darkroom. Now he was getting more buisness than ever for his secret photos. Lance was going to do chores in exchange for some pictures of Kitty. Then cold hard cash for more.

The front door slammed and a happy Fred walked into the kitchen.

"What's up, Fred," Todd said as Melanie kissed his jaw.

"Nothin'. Just havin' a good day."

Melanie forced Toad to refocus his attention on her.

"Come on. We barely have any time together."

Lance walked down the stairs.

"You're here almost every day!! And if you're not here, the two of you are off somewhere IN MY JEEP!"

"Okay, five times!"

Lance groaned and went to the kitchen.

Melanie groaned and went back to playing with Toad's hair.

"Does that give you any ideas?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lance poured himself a glass of water. Fred was making dinner.

"What's on the menu?"

"Mac and Cheese."

The sound of a jeep starting up caught their attention.

"DAMN IT!" Lance screamed running out of the room. "TOAD!!"

Pietro zoomed into the kitchen.

"How long until that's done?"

"About fifteen minutes."

"Okay...and do you want any pictures? I've already got Lance and Toad."

"N-Nah."

"Okay. I'll be in my room until its done."

Once Pietro was gone, he pulled out his cell phone.

"Hey, Megan?"

"Hi! Hold on."

It sounded like they were in the middle of dinner and she ran out of the room.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to- if you want to go back to dinner-"

"Freddie, its okay. We were done and just sitting around bugging Kitty about her and Lance."

He laughed.

"So what's up?"

"J-Just making dinner."

She giggled.

"You aren't wearing a 'Kiss the Cook' apron, are you?"

He chuckled.

"If I wear one, would you kiss me?"

She smirked as she sat on her bed.

"Wow. I never pictured you for the romantic type."

"I thought of that one quick. What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Um... I don't- aw man!"

"What?"

"We have to take my sisters to the airport! And that means we're going to miss Jean's soccer game too!"

The sound of a door slam interrupted the conversation.

"I-I gotta go."

"All right. Bye."

Fred slipped the phone back into his pocket and looked at an angry Lance holding Toad by the collar.

"Yo, man! You just had to ruin our moment!"

"Making out in my jeep is bad enough but the layer of slime you leave! How does she deal with that?!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melinda, Melanie, and Megan helped their sisters load their stuff into the Tahoe.

"I guess this is sayonara for now."

Maya started crying.

"I'm gonna miss you."

They had one last group hug and hopped into the car.

"So, Melody, you upset that you and Pietro won't be hanging around each other all the time?"

"K-Kind of. It isn't exactly a big deal."

Megan looked over at her blushing sister.

"At least you're going to Paris. That'll be nice!"

"And I'm going to take pictures so I can copy the designs and sell the fakes!"

"That's it! No more hanging around the Brotherhood for you!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Melanie, Melinda, and Megan left the airport, they stopped at a closeby outlet mall.

"Okay. I need shoes like you couldn't imagine!"

"Melinda," Megan said corssing her arms.

"I just need some more comfortable shoes. Something-"

Melanie groaned and put her hands to her head.

"Melanie?"

She started getting visions of the school.

"Students... at the soccer game. Fire. S-Screaming."

Melanie ran out of the store and started her car. Megan and Melinda jumped in the backseat just before Melanie started driving.

"I-I think something's happening at the school."

"You're not making sense. Is it your powers?"

"I think its some kind of mental pictures. Maybe something from Professor Xavier?"

Melanie groaned and pulled over to the side of the road.

"My head hurts."

"Megan, can you drive and I'll watch Melanie?"

"Yeah. I'll try to get to the school fast."

"Just don't break too many laws."

--------------------------------------------------------------

Megan made it to the school in record time thanks to her outrageous driving. Melanie was still moaning and groaning as she mumbled about fire and the Brotherhood.

"H-Holy-Its on fire!"

The three looked over and saw the Brotherhood fighting the X-men. As soon as they stopped the car, Storm was flying overhead creating a downpour.

Megan carried Melanie on her back as they rushed over to Professor Xavier. When they reached him, they could sense he was using his powers.

"Kurt, what happened?" Melinda said grabbing his arm.

He was carrying a barely consious Toad.

"The Brotherhood tried to rat us out. The Prof is erasing their memories."

The Professor collapsed in his chair. Megan took a still sickly Melanie over to him.

Melanie got out of Megan's hold and put one of her hands on the Professor's head. She could feel the pull of his mental strain and nearly fainted. But she held the link and helped reshape his scattered mind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Brotherhood gathered around Lance's jeep. Pietro and Lance wanted to get out of there but Fred wanted to wait until Toad woke up.

"He can wake up at home," Pietro insisted.

"But he'll freak if he doesn't know what happened."

Toad sat up and groaned.

"My head. Did Blob sit on me?"

He looked over and saw Cyclops carrying Melanie into her Tahoe.

"Sugar Plum!" he yelled trying to get over there.

Fred held him back as the jeep drove off.

"Let me go! What happened? What did you do?"

"We didn't do nothin.' The old man used his powers and wiped himself out. She used her powers to get him better or whatever."

"You sure she's okay though?"

Lance sighed.

"As soon as the X-geeks cool down, you can go over there."

Fred looked back and hoped Megan was okay. He didn't see her but knew she was taking the students into the school for safety.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Professor Xavier woke up in the infirmary of the Institute. Logan, Scott, and Ororo were surrounding him. He tried to sit up but Logan put him back down.

"Careful, Charles. You threw your brain into overload."

"But it worked," Ororo said. "People believe the fireworks were the cause of the fire."

"What about the broadcast?"

"None of it went out. Seems there was some kind of magnetic interference that took the station off the air."

"Could it be...he's still alive?"

"Magneto? Wouldn't doubt it. He and Mystique are probably gettin' stronger somewhere after what happened at Meteor M."

"At least we have our own secret weapon," Scott said.

"What do you mean?"

Ororo helped Charles into his wheelchair and everyone went outside the mansion. It was late the next night.

Melanie was by the cliff as the moonlight surrounded her. Her eyes were closed as they watched.

Charles watched as she suddenly became Lance and started shaking the edge of the cliff. When a large piece fell off, she became Jean and guided it above herself. In a flash of quick lights, she started becoming all of the X-men and used her powers on the boulder.

"What on earth..."

"She's gotten a pretty good hold of her powers. She's been timing herself and figuring out what the limits of her mimic powers can go."

Melanie stopped and set the now newly shaped boulder on the ground. It was a life-size statute of Professor Xavier, standing up, with the engraving 'The Founder' underneath him.

"So far, it looks like she can do whatever she wants."

Charles stared in deep thought at the girl.

"This is far more advanced than I could have pictured."

"What are you thinking, Professor?"

"I'm thinking... we have a leader for our New Recruits."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

At breakfast, everyone was thrilled the Professor was up and about. Melanie was unaware the Professor, Scott, Ororo, and Logan has seen her work. She had the statute hidden in the forest and planned on giving it to him later.

"Everyone, I have some good news. I have officially sorted out new teams."

The students chatted excitedly. They knew there was going to be a head team and a back up team.

"Our main squad will be lead by Scott and will include Jean, Kurt, Evan, Kitty, Melinda, Megan, and Rogue. Our New Recruits will be led by Melanie and have Bobby, Ray, Tabitha, Rahne, Amara Samuel, Jubilation, Jamie, and Roberto."

"Sweet!"

"Congrads, Melanie!"

Jean stood up.

"But Professor. Is it safe for Melanie to lead a team when she hasn't gotten total control of her powers?"

Melinda stared angrily at Jean.

"Excuse me. Little Miss Teacher's Pet? Aren't you the one who always says we should listen to the Professor? Now when it doesn't put you in the spotlight, you don't like it?"

"Sis, its okay," Melanie said putting her hand on her sister's arm.

Melinda started taking deep breaths.

"No one speaks about you like that."

Kurt wagged his tail happily. Melinda was always so determined to protect her sister.

"I believe my choice is excellent, Jean. Melanie can copy and power and it is not that she is taking the team completely. Ororo and Logan will handle basic training but if they are ever in the field, they will get orders from Burst."

"Wait," Tabitha asked. "Why is your name Burst?"

"At first it was because I thought I could only create bubbles. After I found out I could mimic powers, I figured Burst still worked."

Melanie suddenly groaned and grabbed her head.

"Mel! What's the matter?!"

Logan went over to her.

"She did this after we left the airport. She's the reason we went to the school."

Melanie started changing her form. She was changing from Storm to Kurt to Melinda to Kitty and then went too fast for some of the others to watch. She was turning into people from the X-men, Brotherhood, people from school, and people in the area.

"The boys. T-Train."

She cried out and gripped her hands tight. Her body stayed in her true form but her mind was sending her images.

Professor Xavier went over and tried to put his hands against her head. He could already feel the mental power and could see what she was seeing. It was later that day in Europe. Her younger brothers, Marcello, Myles, Marc, and Mitchell were in a private train. Their hair was spiked and had shirts with their names on them.

The train moves across one of the plains of Croatia to another concert in Hungary. The bodyguards surrounded the boys as the played a game of rummy. The train jerks to the left and sskids off the tracks. Myles and Mitchell hold onto their brothers as the entire train is forced from the tracks and starts spinning.

Professor Xavier breaks the contact and groans.

"The brothers. 180 is in a train crash."

"Melanie, are you-"

"I'm sure, Melinda."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Brotherhood was bored. There was nothing good on tv and everyone was pretty tired. They figured going to school today would be boring, especially since everyone would just be talking about the fire.

"This sucks," Fred said eating a large bowl of cereal. "Just put something besides commercials on!"

Lance hit the remote and put on the world news. A woman was standing in front of a train crash as she spoke in a different language. Someone else, a man, was talking.

_"In Croatia, the American boy band, 180, were seriously injured in a train crash. Seven people were killed and thirty, including the four brothers, were injured."_

"Isn't that the Wilbur brothers?" Pietro said looking closer at the tv.

_"Their family includes Martin the 3rd and Melody Wilbur, models preparing for the fall season in Paris, actress Mandy Wilbur, animal trainer Maya Wilbur, cosmetic surgeon Maxwell Wilbur, hiatus stuntwoman Megan Wilbur, and Melinda and Melanie Wilbur."_

"Hey! Sugar's got a very important job! Being the finest out of the bunch!"

_"Melanie Wilbur is traveling to Croatia as we speak with her brother, Maxwell, to help their brothers."_

Toad's mouth fell open.

"My Supar Plum left the country and didn't tell me?!"


	3. Chapter 3

Melanie and Maxwell made it to Paris where they met up with a friend of Malcolm's. He was very tall, at least six foot, long black hair that was as long as Sabertooth's, angry blue eyes, and wearing an ordinary black buisness suit.

"Mr. Karlj?"

"Yes," he said with a thick Croatian accent. "Matija Karlj."

Melanie stiffled a laugh. Was he just getting used to English?

Maxwell shook his hand.

"Maxwell Wilbur. This is my sister, Melanie."

"Pleasure."

"Your brothers are still...how you say...in surgery."

They took another flight for the remaining four hundred miles. Maxwell and Melanie were looking at the charts Matija had.

"It was hard to get these so quickly to you. Mitchell has two broken legs and a fracture on his right arm. Myles has a broken left arm and broken left leg. Marc is the least to worry about. He might have broken one leg after it was crushed. Marcello had part of the interior crushing his chest. He is on breathing machine and needs work on most of his organs."

Melanie looked over at Maxwell.

"What if I helped with my-"

"You'll have to say you're my assistant."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they reached Croatia, there was a large gathering of fans and news crews in front of the large hospital. Melanie and Maxwell quickly put on doctor's uniforms.

"You better not get yourself caught, Melanie. If they say anything, you just want to hold your brother's hand. Got it?"

"Fine. I think we should both help Marcello first."

They walked into the operating room as the other doctors cleared out. Marcello had wires and tubes everywhere and his chest was open. Some of his organs were only moving because of the machines.

Melanie trembled as she went over to her brother.

"Melanie?"

"I didn't think he was so-"

"We need to help him fast. I'll pretend to do check the monitors while you take his hand."

Melanie took Marcello's hand and focused on Maxwell's power. She felt tears burning her eyes as she started healing his injuries. Maxwell started unhooking the machines from Marcello as Melanie finished with his internal organs.

"I'll handle the muscle and skin. Take a breather."

"But we just started."

"Its already been two hours."

Melanie looked at the clock.

"How?"

"Healing makes you think time is normal when it is actually moving faster. When you focus on the injuries, things seem slower than they actually are."

"Wow."

"Now go and say he is okay. It was hard enough for Matija to keep the reporters and doctors away."

Melanie walked outside where several camera and doctors were waiting. Thankfully, she had blood on her gloved hands to look as though she was helping.

"Marcello is going to be just fine."

Several people cheered out as the doctors sighed happily. Melanie went back and took off her operating garments and washed her hands. She had to stick to the plan of being ordinary.

When she went back, she peeked in, Maxwell was carting Marcello out.

"We did good, sis. We had to keep him week or else people would be suspicious. He'll be forced to stay in bed for at least two weeks until his organs are fully recovered."

"And what about the other three?"

"We'll heal them a little but not too much."

"That means the European tour is off?"

"I'll take them all to my place and keep a watch over them."

"That's great! I can go back to Bayville soon?!"

"Just two or three more days and then you can go back."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Bayville, things were changing fast.

Jean had started to lose control of her powers. It took all of the X-men to help her calm down and let the Professor help her.

Melinda thought it was divine punishment for her rude remarks toward Melanie.

Kurt was falling more and more in love with Melinda. She was so calm during the entire ordeal and focused on getting the younger kids away while the main team handled Jean. She knew her power wouldn't be any help there but did her best to protect the others. He loved how as soon as it was done, she would whisper concerns to him in his native tongue. Sometimes he wondered how he could get through boring chemistry classes without thinking about her.

Melinda was feeling the same way. She could tell Kurt anything and he would listen as if she was telling a brave tale of heroics. He was one of the sweetest guys she ever met. His yellow eyes seemed to smile with his laughter. One of his favorite things to do was hold hands. Except in school. At school, he was a bit more nervous around Melinda. She found out it was because no one in school really knew they were going out.

The X-men were going outside for a training exercise. Since Melanie was the new leader for the squad but absent, Logan, Scott, and Kurt, agreed to help out. They were going on the cliff to practice rescuing victims.

Melinda was in her room, sitting on her chair in front of the mirror, brushing her hair. Her hair was a always adorned with a blue barrett or trinket since she started dating Kurt. She was getting ready for school and tried to remember what would be on the history test.

A sudden bamf behind her pulled her out of her thoughts. Two arms wrapped around her and pressed her back to the chair.

_"Good morning, sweetie,"_ Melinda said tilting her head to face her blue boyfriend.

He leaned down and kissed her. Kurt was wearing his X-men uniform.

_"Good morning, my teasure. Why don't you come to the training?"_

_"I can't. I really need to get to school on time."_

He growled and set his head on her shoulder.

_"I can teleport."_

_"Kurt, what if I promised to make it up at the carnival tonight?"_

_"A ride on the Tunnel of Love?"_

She giggled and got out of his grasp.

"There's that," she said with a devious grin.

His tail moved excitedly.

"Ja?" he asked reappearing behind her.

"A good thing about carnivals is that no one really pays attention if...let's say..."

She put one hand against his neck and whispered in his ear.

"A couple decided to sneak into an area for some...alone time?"

He moaned and kissed her.

Scott barged into the room.

"Knew we'd find you here. Did you forget, Kurt?"

Kurt pulled away and glared at Scott.

"No."

"Don't blame me. I wanted to wait until after school for this but Logan couldn't wait."

Kurt gave Melinda another quick kiss.

"I'll see you at school. Okay?"

"Okay."

Melinda kissed him a few seconds longer and ran out of her room.

Kurt wagged his tail happily as he walked outside.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the Brotherhood house, the gang was starting to realize why they needed Melanie so much. After being gone only a day, all of the food was gone and, after a few fights, things weren't exactly ship-shape.

Toad sat next to the garbage can eating flies.

"Sugar Plum should be here eating with me."

Pietro zoomed around the kitchen looking for a more sanitary breakfast.

"Man, the cupboards are bare and falling apart! What happened?"

"When I found out Melanie was gone, Fred agreed to console me while we watched tv."

"And you guys had to eat all of the food?!"

"We were also trying to get over the loss of Mystique?"

Lance yawned as he went into the kitchen.

"What were you guys banging last night?"

"Each other," Pietro said with a smile.

Pietro avoided several shots of slime.

"I would never cheat on Sugar Plum with a guy!"

"Does that mean you would cheat on her?"

"No! I'm just sayin'!"

Pietro pulled the phone over.

"Wait til she hears this."

"I never said I would cheat on her!"

-------------------------------------------------------------

The students at Bayville high school half listened to the morning announcements. The new principal, Edward Kelly was giving them.

"Good morning. Tonight is the Bayville High carnival fundraiser. Remember, all the proceeds will help rebuild the gymnasium after the fire several weeks ago."

Melinda sighed and started wandering the halls. She heard from Scott that Kurt had an accident during the training this morning. Classes were going to start soon but she wanted to find Kurt.

When she found him, he was next to one of the New Recruits, Tabitha Smith. The girl took the burger from Kurt's hand and started eating it. The bell rang and the girl turned Kurt around and took one of the books from his backpack. Before Melinda could reach Kurt, Evan had pulled him into chemistry.

Hopefully her history teacher wouldn't be too mad about her being late. She was a little jealous of Kurt and Tabitha being so friendly.

She made it to class and started taking her test. Thankfully, her teacher let her off with a warning. All of the studying she did the night before made the test a breeze for her. One problem was why she couldn't stop thinking about Kurt and Tabitha.

_Its not like Kurt is interested in her or anything. He's with me. I-I bet it was just some friendly banter. Just two people talking...and sharing burgers...and books._

Melinda quickly let go of her pencil and put her hand against her bare arm. She almost set the pencil on fire. If she refocused the heat from her hand to her arm, it would be okay.

She blushed at how worked up she was getting.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At lunch, she sat next to Kitty and found out all the facts about what the morning training accident really was.

"Tabitha was goofing off and knocked Kurt out. Thank goodness Scott and Logan were there to rescue him. But now Kurt and Tabitha are forbidden from using their powers for a while and stuck at the Institute for two weeks."

"Does that mean no carnival?"

"Yep. It stinks. I know the two of you were planning on going together."

Kitty saw the strained smile on Melinda's face.

"What is it?"

"Um...I'm a little...jealous."

"Of who?"

"Kurt and Tabitha. They were talking in the hallway. She took his burger and his book."

"So?"

"Isn't that...girlfriend territory?"

Kitty laughed.

"Don't worry. Tabitha really just takes advantage of people. She just used Kurt for a quick bite and missing class."

Melinda sighed.

"I guess I'm just nervous. I'm really starting to like Kurt and I-"

"Nervous he was getting interested in someone else?"

"How'd you-"

"I'll be honest. Sometimes I see Lance talking to Melanie and I get jealous. I-Its not like we're going out! We've been getting closer and I was just hoping they weren't hooking up."

Melinda laughed.

"Don't worry. She has zero interest in Lance."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Across the cafeteria, Kurt was drowning his tater tots in soda. Scott was sitting next to his depressed friend.

"Cheer up. There'll be other carnivals."

"But I was supossed to go with Melinda. She was excited."

Kurt smiled.

"She even promised some 'alone time.' "

Scott chuckled and smacked Kurt in the arm. Kurt looked around for Melinda but saw Tabitha.

"Tabitha!" he yelled standing up.

She turned around and walked towards him.

"Hey! I got your social studies book right here. Thanks!"

He took another sip of his soda. Tabitha saw it and tried to take it.

"Soda machine is right around the corner."

Tabitha put her hand on his chin.

"Stingy boy. See ya."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kitty looked over at a scared Melinda. Usually Melinda was the more collected sister but she looked as if someone stuck a blade in her heart.

"H-Hey, Melinda. Want my ice cream?"

Melinda stood up.

"Um, I'm not really hungry anymore."

"Wildfire, you know he's crazy about you."

She nodded with doubt clouding her face.

As Melinda walked out, Kitty looked over at Kurt and Scott.

"Smart. Real smart. Why can't guys have some brains and distinguish flirting and extortion?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Melinda and Kitty decided to skip the carnival and hang out at the mall. After getting a few things, Melinda was really starting to cheer up. One thing was a new DVD that was a remake of one of her favorite musicals.

"How can you listen to this?" Kitty asked as they drove home in Melanie's Tahoe.

"I like some musicals. Not everything but just a few. I like this one because the characters don't exactly undertand their purpose in life but try what they are best at."

"Cool."

They made it back to the mansion and went upstairs towards Melinda's room.

"I heard someone told Kurt that we told you about the carnival."

"How'd he react?"

"I fudged it a little and said you were really disappointed."

Melinda laughed.

"I was but you guys didn't have to tell him that!"

Melinda knocked on Kurt's door.

"Kurt? You there?"

She opened the door but found the room was empty.

"He's supossed to be grounded."

Kitty went down the hall and peeked in Tabitha's room. She wasn't there either. As soon as Melinda saw this, she groaned.

"They escaped together."

"D-Don't worry."

Melinda brushed passed Kitty and slammed the door to her room.

"She took that well."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Melinda, calm down," Melanie said in her hotel room. "I'm sure its nothing-"

"I can't believe him! He can't go with me but skips out with her?! He didn't even call to say to meet him there!"

"I'll get home tonight, okay? We can talk to Kurt and sort this out."

"It'll take you hours."

"No. I traced the path here with my memory. I can manage my way back."

After an hour, Melanie hopped onto Melinda's bed. She was curled up with a pillow.

"Hey, sorry it took me so long."

"He's still not back."

"Want to go bug my boyfriend? Or we can hide all of Fred's hidden food! We can set Pietro's clothes on fire!"

"All right."

"You see Megan lately?"

"Unfortunately, she had to run to New York City to help a friend jump off a building."

"If I didn't know her, I would be concerned."


	4. Chapter 4

Melanie and Melinda made it to the Brotherhood house but found out they were all there.

"SUGAR PLUM!" Toad said hugging Melanie.

She laughed.

"You owe me a thousand kisses! On second thought, two thousand!"

Melanie wrapped her arms around her neck and kissed him.

"Darn. I wanted to set something on fire," Melinda said sitting on the couch.

"Sugar Plum! What is she talking about?" Pietro said walking in.

"I promised she could burn some stuff while we were here and don't call me Sugar Plum!"

"Lay off, Pietro! She's mine!"

"At least she's better than Boom Boom upstairs!"

Melinda got up.

"What?"

"Y-Yeah. She came here because she and the elf broke out. Aren't you two dating?"

Melinda put her hand to her head and then checked her phone.

"Still no calls."

"Melinda, here," Melanie said handing her a pair of discarded boxers.

Melinda set them on fire until they were less than dust.

"Those were mine!" Lance said running in.

"Why were they- nevermind. I don't think I should know."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kurt was looking off his balcony with a slightly angry look. He wasn't wearing his image inducer but wearing his normal clothes. Scott walked over next to him.

"How bad is the sentence?"

"I have to wash all our uniforms, wax the X-Jet, and clean out the Danger Room every day for a month."

"That's not completely bad."

"After Logan sessions."

"Ouch. But I get the feeling something is bumming you out more."

"I had to beg the Professor to let me be able to go out with Melinda. He told me how he's been getting stressed signals from her all day."

"Why?"

"I ignored her all day. I only thought about how angry I was about missing the carnival and not taking her. I didn't even think about ways to make it up to her."

"That...and-"

"What?"

"Kitty said she was jealous over all the attention you were giving Tabitha."

Kurt put his hands on his head.

"Oh man! She must be furious!"

Kurt teleported out of his room and went into Melinda's room. She was under the covers.

_"My sweet?"_

Melinda stuck her head out and glared with tear-stained cheeks.

Kurt stepped back as a pang of guilt hit his chest.

_"I'm really sorry. I should have called you. I should have talked to you."_

She hid her face into a pillow and tried to calm herself down.

He teleported next to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

_"I was stupid. I shouldn't have let myself forget how you felt in all of this. I was angry at myself because I knew how much you wanted to go to the carnival. I couldn't think of how to make it up to you and wanted to find a way to get you to go. But I let Tabitha fool me. She only wanted to get stuff from me. I should have figured it out."_

He laid down next to her and put his face against her back.

_"Please. Yell at me. Scream at me. Just please don't cry anymore."_

_"I won't yell."_

Melinda turned around so she could be face to face with him.

_"I can't change what happened and neither can you."_

She smiled at him.

_"You'll just have to make it up to me."_

Kurt sighed happily.

_"I expected you to set something on fire or at least yell at me."_

_"Oh, you are going to suffer. There's no doubt about that. For example."_

She got up and walked back a few steps.

"You can't be within ten feet of me. And I'm going to start speaking in English again."

"That's murder! It was like our own language! And how am I going to hug you or kiss you-"

"That's the point. This is your punishment."

-------------------------------------------------------------

News spread around quickly of Kurt's punishment. Iceman, Berzerker, and Cannonball decided to use the opprotunity to flirt with Melinda during breakfast. In front of Kurt, who was being monitored by Melanie.

"Melinda, babycakes, why don't we hook up tonight and set the city on fire?"

"No way, Ray. She's going to the movies with me. I can win her over."

Bobby got on one knee and looked into her eyes.

"Go out with me and I'll make sure there's fire... and steam."

"Your beauty is like no other," Cannonball said handing her a tulip.

Professor Xavier came in with Storm and Logan.

"Professor! Please let me go by mein Melinda! This is killing me!"

Logan looked at Charles confused.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Kurt."

"But Melinda-"

Melanie, Megan, and Melinda laughed.

Kurt teleported over to Professor Xavier.

"You didn't forbid me to go near her?"

"No. You're punishment is just as I told you."

"Melinda!"

Kurt teleported over to her and wrapped his arms around her.

_"I was just kidding, Kurt."_

_"That was terrible. Mean!"_

She gave him a tender kiss.

_"Forgive me?"_

_"Only if you forgive me for yesterday."_

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Megan ran upstairs and started dialing on her cell phone.

"Hello?" a sleepy Fred said on the other line.

"Good morning. Are you busy today?"

"Hm. What time is it?"

"Seven."

"Can it be in another four hours?"

"Freddie!"

He laughed on the other side.

"Maybe lunch? I-I can make it here. All we need to is get the others out of the house."

"That can't be too hard."

"Mystique says the weekends are her 'resting' days and goes somewhere else. If Kitty called Lance, he could get out of the house."

"Hold that thought. Call you back."

Megan hung up the phone as Melanie walked in.

"Kurt is all over Melinda. They're going to be out all day. I'm gonna call Pietro to take pictures of them and then sell them to Kurt and Melinda!"

"Great!" Megan said a bit too eagerly.

Melanie gave her a questioning look but ignored it.

"Todd's taking me to a new movie that's out. Zombies from Planet Karpathenon."

"Okay...sounds weird."

"He wants to see it and we're mainly going to cover the floor with slime."

"You two are sick! How can you tolerate making out with that on his tongue?!"

"I like it. There's nothing wrong with his mutation and I love everything about him...I'm actually thinking about telling him today."

"That's fantastic!"

Melanie blushed.

"I'll call Pietro then. See you later!"

Megan sighed after her sister left. She then called Fred again.

"Hey."

"I got Pietro out and Toad's going out with Melanie."

"How did you-?"

"I have my ways."

Fred chuckled.

"Is chicken okay for lunch? Melanie gave us money for groceries and stuff but I don't know-"

"Chicken's great! Its my favorite poultry. Then turkey."

He laughed.

"Lance will do something today. He won't just lay around."

"Perfect!"

"Um, you aren't mad, are you?"

"About what?"

"K-Keeping us a secret. Its just the guys would-"

"Kill you?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Relax. My sisters would freak. My last boyfriend sort of broke a wall in Melody's dressing room once."

"Are you serious?"

"I couldn't make this up. He thought the door was jammed and broke down the door, kept running, and ran into the wall. I have to go but I'll see you around noon then?"

"S-Sure."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fred made a simple breaded chicken, green beans, stuffing, and dinner rolls. He didn't want to make something lame like grilled cheese but didn't want to go overboard.

They ate in the kitchen, which Melanie repaired after the fights. The table was small but Fred liked how they could sit so close together.

"This was amazing, Fred."

She set her hand on top of his and smiled at him.

"Why don't you put something funny on tv and I'll take care of the dishes?"

"No! I can do it!"

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Let me."

He nodded and went into the other room. Megan was a bit embarrassed. She was terrible at cooking but was very good at setting the table and cleaning up.

After a few minutes of dishes, she finished and let the rest soak on the two draining trays. She plopped next to Fred on the couch and watched a spoof of some type of mafia movie.

Megan edged closer to Fred and looked up at him. He was looking down at her. She leaned up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. Fred fervidly kissed back and brought her body on top of his.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Todd, you are such a trouble maker!" Melanie said walking with Toad.

"We covered the entire theater! How did you make us invisible?"

"Martin has that power. Remember?"

After a few seconds, she got up the nerve. She linked arms with Todd.

"T-Todd. There's something I want to say to you."

"Yeah, Sugar?"

"I-I love you."

She blushed and looked away. He tilted her head towards him and gave her a kiss. Todd looked around quick before looking at her.

"I love you too."

Melanie sighed in relief.

"I was afraid you were going to say something like you wanted to break up."

"You kiddin'?! I kinda wanted to say it for a while but with the gang, its hard to have a moment. Lance never lets me have his jeep unless we take it."

They crossed the street and headed over to the Brotherhood house. A puff of smoke appeared in front of them. Kurt was there with Melinda holding Pietro.

"Why was he following us?"

"Pietro!"

"What? I was taking pictures of the two of you."

Kurt and Melinda blushed.

"Did you get any good ones?" Toad asked.

"Yeah! Let me show you guys!"

They walked inside but Pietro immediately raised his hand.

"You hear that?" he whispered.

In the living room, they heard grunting and moaning.

When they walked in, they saw Megan on top of Fred on the couch making out.


	5. Chapter 5

Megan sat on the couch next to Fred as Lance, Todd, Melanie, and Melinda stared at the blushing teens.

"We-We were gonna tell you guys."

"Sure, Blob. As soon as Lance told Kitty how he feels. He seemed eager to get here when I mentioned her name."

"Hey! Only reason I came back so fast was because you were freaking out on the phone and I had no idea what was going on! Toad, tell your girlfriend to lay off!"

"Nuh-uh," he said staring dreamingly at her.

Megan hugged Fred's arm.

"Its not like we were embarrassed or anything. We just didn't know how you would react."

Melinda groaned and put her hand to her head.

"Its not as if we don't like you two together but it would've been nice for some warning that we were about to walk in on you two. We would've stayed away."

"Its not you guys we were worried about."

Pietro and Kurt came downstairs.

"Okay! New batch of photos! Ten a piece!"

The group looked at the pictures. Some were of Melanie, some of Toad, some of Kurt and Melinda, and then the rest were all pictures of kids from school.

"I think my photography skills have greatly improved."

"Is that Suzy with-"

"Yep."

"A leotard?! Is that football player-"

"Secret passion."

"Do you realize how much blackmail you have here?!" Megan said looking through them.

"I'd say enough for a new camera or two."

------------------------------------------------------------------

Kurt and Melinda were sitting on her bed putting new photos in a photo album. She was wearing a red sweater with a pair of jeans while he wore his X-men uniform.

_"Will your parents like these?"_

_"They will be thrilled to see us. I'm happy Quicksilver was able to take pictures of me in my real form and my image inducer form."_

Melinda cuddled close to her and rubbed her cheek against the fur of his neck.

_"I think you look the best in this form."_

He smiled and took in her scent.

_"What do you like?"_

_"Start from head to toe or anything?"_

He chuckled.

_"Anywhere."_

_"Hm...I love your hands. They're so inviting and have the most sensitive touch. Almost like your ears. I love how they twitch slightly when you're very happy. Let's see... I love how you can sneak up on my with your soft feet. Even if you don't teleport!"_

He laughed.

_"I also love your teeth. Sometimes when we kiss, you give small bites. It feels amazing. And we can't forget your tail. Every time I see you, the tail always flutters back and forth."_

_"Only when you are near,"_ he said hugging her from behind.

She looked him in the eyes.

_"How did I do?"_

_"Perfect. As always."_

He put his forehead hers.

_"Do you want some popcorn?"_

_"Yes, please."_

Kurt teleported out of the room and into the kitchen. Jean and Kitty were there talking about diets and Rahne was helping Jamie with homework. Kurt hummed a tune as he put the popcorn in the microwave.

"Someone's in a good mood," Kitty said laughing.

"Yeah. Melinda and I are sending pictures of us to my parents."

"I'm happy for you, Kurt," Jean said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Melinda is so perfect. She is beautiful and smart and knows exactly what to say and do. Its like the girl my parents told me I would find when I was little."

The machine dinged and Kurt opened the door.

"And she loves popcorn as much as I do," he said before he teleported back to Melinda's room.

She had sealed the box up, labeled it, and placed it on the floor.

_"All finished?"_

_"Wrapped and ready to go!"_

Melinda walked over and grabbed the unopen bag of popcorn. Kurt grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. She dropped the bag and wrapped her arms around his neck. His tongue shyly licked her lower lip as one of his hands rubbed her back.

Kurt moved Melinda onto the bed and they sat down. She opened her mouth and let his tongue slide in. Unsure of what to do, he carefully lets his tongue explore her mouth. A soft moan escapes her mouth before the need for oxygen took over. She pulled away and stared into his eyes, her arms dropped to her sides. He looked like he wanted to say something.

"Kurt?"

"M-Melinda. I don't know what's happening."

She looked at him nervously. Why was he suddenly speaking English?

"Tell me. You can tell me anything, you know that."

"I-I do. I can tell you anything and i know you would listen and be patient and not judge me and..."

He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.

"I love you."

Kurt wanted to run. He saw her face turn red and a sparkle in her eyes. What was he supossed to do? He couldn't even tell he was holding his breath until she smiled and played with his hair.

"I love you too, Kurt."

Something bubbled up inside of him. He put his forehead against hers and tried to regain his breath. That was one of the most terrifying moments of his life. If she had run or said she didn't feel the same, he wouldn't know what to do.

"Kurt?"

She put her hands on his chest as Kurt's arms dropped to his sides. Melinda pulled him into a hug.

"Tonight's a full moon. Let's go to the beach and see it."

When she pulled away, he smiled.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The next few weeks were smooth sailing. Storm took a vacation to Africa and Logan left in the middle of the night on a roadtrip. The X-men decided to throw a party at the Institute when the Professor left to check on his brother. Unfortunately, one of the students, Arcade, got into Cerebro and nearly destroyed the school. Despite everything, they were able to get Arcade out and make sure he was clueless of what happened.

Then a new mutant came to the Institute. Henry "Hank" McCoy was a teacher at Bayville high school as the substitute gym teacher and chemistry. Melanie blushed when she heard because lately she had been using Jamie's power to skip those classes and hang out with Toad. She sort of paid attention but was really out of it.

Megan and Fred decided to go out in public and would hang around each other during school and after. The X-men couldn't understand it but thought it would be dangerous to say anything to Megan.

Todd and Melanie still wanted to keep it quiet from the X-men. It would be a disaster if they started going off about how he should take care of himself better or how disgusting he was.

Kurt and Melinda were clinging to each other like peanut butter and jelly. They would hold hands in the hallways, sneak kisses in between classes, and walk home after school. Or at least far enough for him to teleport.

Megan, Melanie, and Melinda were eating at a small restaurant on a Saturday morning.

"Melody and Martin are all finished in Paris and heading to Martin's condo in Florida. Everyone plans on heading down there for Christmas."

"I plan on going," Megan said fiddiling with the straw of her drink. "And maybe inviting the Brotherhood."

Melinda looked questionably at her sister.

"Are you sure?"

Melanie became excited.

"That would be so cool! And since we haven't gotten them presents yet, we can tell Pietro and Lance that the trip is their present! And I can be with Todd!"

"Nah. Kurt's home sick and his parents really really want to meet me. I want to go and see Germany anyway!"

"This works out perfectly then."

"I'll send a text to Fred and see what he says."

"Melanie, why don't you call Toad on his cell phone?"

"He doesn't have one. After he broke two, Mystique refused to buy him a new one."

"That's what you should get him!"

"N-No. He broke both by jumping from tall places and they fell out of his pockets. It would be broken in a week."

"Good call."

-----------------------------------------------------

At The Brotherhood house, Fred's cell phone went off. Everyone was playing a game of B.S. Tabitha had decided to leave after school today for vacation with her family.

"Whoa!"

"What, Fred?" Pietro said looking at him.

"Megan and Melanie want us to go with them for Christmas!"

"I thought we already were hanging out with them," Lance said throwing down another card.

"Yeah, but now we're going to Florida!"

"Thank God!!" Pietro said trowing his cards in the air. "I hate cold weather!!"

"Ask when we leave! Ask when we leave!" Toad hollered as he hopped up and down.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Melanie, Megan, and Melinda were in the middle of eating when they recieved Fred's response.

"When are we leaving?"

"Christmas is in three weeks. Are we staying down there for New Year's?"

"I think so. School starts a week after that, right?"

"And we just got out of school now."

Melinda leaned back in her chair.

"Kurt and I are staying until a week before Christmas."

"Maybe we should go down before Maya and all of them."

"Next week then?"

"See what they think."

-------------------------------------------------------------

The Brotherhood started packing their clothes.

"What's the weather like in Florida?!" Lance yelled sorting through his dressers.

Pietro zoomed in.

"Winters are around 70's but at night it gets down to 50's. You hear that everybody?!"

"YES!" Fred and Toad yelled throwing a large suitcase down the steps.

"I don't want one of you guys to get sick and then get me sick!"

Pietro shivered.

"When I get sick, I can't move as fast or as well. I get so dizzy."

Fred's phone went off.

"Would next week be okay to go?"

"What about now?!"

"I want to go before the snow!"

Lance looked out his window.

"Too late. Blizzard outside."

The four gathered at the window and saw the first snow of the season hit with brute force.

"ARGH!! Do you realize how hard it is to run at my speed in layers?!"

"With this weather, it would have to be next week."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

When Melanie, Melinda, and Megan returned to the mansion, they gasped. There were lights around the entire outline of the mansion, a santa hat on the angel in the fountain, and they could see small Christmas trees in the windows.

They ran inside and saw everyone decorating a large tree.

Kurt saw Melinda and ran over to her.

"We were wondering when you were getting back."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"We stopped and got some presents. We pulled together our money and just got one present from the three of us for a majority of the people here."

"I felt embarrassed," Megan admitted. "I don't exactly know the New Recruits well."

Melanie went over to the decorations in one corner of the room. They were all shattered or broken.

"These for me?" she said to Logan.

"How can you tell?" he chuckled.

She used Jean's power to have all the pieces float in the air and started sorting them out one by one. Once all the pieces of every ornament were in the same area, she used Maxwell's power to repair them.

The New Recruits were mainly decorating the tree and eagerly gathered the fixed ornaments.

"Thanks, Burst!"

"Thank you, Melanie!"

"No problem. Where is the main team? I only see Bobby, Ray, Rahne, Samuel, Jubilation, Jamie, and Roberto. Besides Kurt I mean."

"Everyone else is learning how to make gingerbread from Storm."

A large explosion came from the kitchen.

"KITTY!!"

----------------------------------------------------

A week went by fast for Melanie and Megan but not fast enough for Pietro. He called nearly every hour to ask if they were leaving yet. The guy was even crazy enough to run onto the Institute's grounds and beg Megan and Melaine to get him out of the 'frozen hell.'

Melinda and Kurt took all of them to the airport in Melanie's Tahoe.

"Thank goodness! Goodbye snow! Hello sun!!"

"We have first-class too?!"

"When they heard Wilbur, they insisted."

Melinda and Kurt waved them off while holding hands. Once the plane took off, they walked back to the Tahoe.

_"Brr. I'm so happy you're so warm, Kurt. I'm freezing!"_

_"I thought your power would help you in that department."_

_"I don't know. I think the air around me has to be warm for me to use my power. Right now, I can barely make a spark."_

He pulled her closer and moved his arm around her waist.

_"I'll keep you warm then."_


	6. Chapter 6

Todd, Pietro, Lance, Fred, Melanie, and Megan eagerly got off the plane after a five hour plane ride. The boys quickly looked out the terminal window and looked at the view.

"We're actually in Miami!"

"This is incredible!"

Pietro looked around for someone to welcome them.

"Looking for Melody?" Megan asked with a smirk.

He turned a shade of pink.

"No. I'm looking for the guy who welcomes us. Maybe leading us to a car?"

Todd linked arms with Melanie.

"I told you how much you rock for taking us here, right?"

She smiled at him.

"About fifty times. Thank you."

"Where are those beautiful Wilbur sisters we heard were coming?!"

The group turned and saw Martin, Maxwell, and Malcolm. They had their blonde hair spiked up and shorts on. Their shirts were normal polo shirts, Maxwell was blue, Martin was green, and Malcolm was white.

Megan and Melanie ran over and hugged them. Fred and Todd tried to fix their appearance. Meeting the family was the hardest part of any relationship, or at least that's what Tabitha kept telling them. Pietro was trying to still see if Melody was around while Lance was keeping an eye out for Maya and Mandy. He forgot about those two until an hour into the plane ride.

"Guys, I would like to introduce you to Pietro, Lance, Fred, and Todd."

Maxwell went over to Lance, Martin went over to Todd, and Malcolm went over to Fred. Pietro watched nervously as the brothers inspected the Brotherhood. The boys stood up straight and tried not to look terrified.

"They seem different than the pictures portrayed them."

"How do we know they aren't after our darling sisters for money?"

"Maybe we should put them to some tests."

"H-Hey! I'm not interested in any of them!" Lance said holding his hands up in surrender.

The brothers laughed and turned to their sisters.

"You guys are awful," Melanie and Megan said grabbing their boyfriends' hands.

Fred squeezed Megan's hand as he started to calm down. Todd pulled Melanie close to him and kissed her.

"NO! No no no no no!" Martin yelled pulling them apart.

"No kissing in front of family!"

Melanie and Megan glared at the brothers.

"And this is different from the models?"

"The actresses?"

"The exotic dancers?!"

They blushed and started walking toward baggage claim.

"We should get your bags."

"Don't want just anyone taking them."

Melanie and Todd went back to each other and linked arms. Melanie, Megan and Fred were mainly the people who held the bags, while Pietro and Todd were glared at for not carrying any.

Malcolm had his Lexus GS nearby while Maxwell had a Escalade EXT and Martin had Porche Cayenne. The boys stared in amazement at the cars.

Fred was forced into Malcolm's car with Pietro, Melanie and Megan were in Martin's, and Lance was with Todd in Maxwell's.

The drive took about half an hour until they made it to the condo on the beachside.

Maya, Mandy, and Melody were out on the beach suntanning on towels. As soon as everything was inside, Pietro grabbed his suitcases, ran upstairs, and quickly ran back out.

Melody had the sun perfectly land on her for a tan when she suddenly felt a pair of eyes on her. She leaned up, adorned in a orange bikini, and looked around. Leaning against the house was Quicksilver. He was wearing a dark blue shorts and had sunglasses on.

"Hey there," she said smiling at him.

He zoomed over to her and smiled down at her.

"Hey. Miss me?"

She leaned back in her chair, just to tease him with her body.

"A little bit. Mostly at night."

There was a slight tremble going through his body but he covered it up by brushing his hair back.

"We should get reaquainted during this fortunate turn of events."

Maya and Mandy cleared their throats and stared at them.

"Why are you here, Pietro?"

"Some secret getaway?"

"No. The Brotherhood came with Melanie and Megan. Lance is inside-"

"We got bored playing with him," they said in unison.

"Besides, our boyfriends would be mad if we played with him."

Maya and Mandy could see the look Melody was giving them and got up with a yawn.

"We better go say hi to Melanie and Megan."

"Don't stay out too long, Melody."

Once they were inside, Pietro pulled over a beach towel and laid next to her.

"How was Paris?"

"Interested in how many designs I copied?"

He smirked.

"Maybe. Or maybe I was wondering what you modeled."

"Come up to my room later and I'll show you. I'll even let you sneak a peek at some other things."

Pietro inhaled sharply and made a small groan. Something about Melody just sent his heart and mind racing.

-----------------------------------------------

Melanie and Megan eagerly hugged Maya and Mandy when they ran inside. The boys were taking everything to the bedrooms. Due to the large number of guests, the girls would occupy the three bedrooms, a cycle of who got the one room to themselves, while the boys stayed on mattresses around the living room and dining room.

"Martin, I thought you said there would be enough space for everyone," Melanie said pulling him aside.

"Don't worry. This place has four condos in it, ours is on the bottom. The neighbor one up from here is leaving for holiday in the country. They adore me and promised to let me use their condo as long as I gave them some of my designer sunglasses."

"Ouch."

"It was hard but at least now I can keep a sterner watch on you."

She smacked his arm and went over to Todd.

"Are we going to be sleeping on the floor the entire time?"

"No. Martin's friend is letting you boys crash in their condo. They have three bedrooms too so I figure Martin, Maxwell, and Malcolm will stay in one, Lance and Pietro in another, then you and Fred."

He sighed in relief.

Martin and Maxwell left the condo as Malcolm cracked his knuckles. He put his hands out and they started growing. Three seconds later, he was able to grab Fred with one hand as if he was Thumbelina.

"Whoa!"

"Just showing you boys who's in charge here."

Malcolm gave Fred a tight squeeze.

Megan went over and put Malcolm in a chokehold.

"Let my boyfriend go!!"

Malcolm immediately let go and returned his hands to normal.

Megan let him go and went over to Fred.

"You're lucky Fred is nice and isn't fighting back. He could easily break through a wall!"

Fred smiled happily. Todd looked over at Melanie.

"Why aren't you giving me compliments?"

Melanie smiled.

"Be happy he didn't try to squeeze you."

He nodded and went to the kitchen.

"Its all health crap!"

"He's a model. What did you expect?"

Martin and Maxwell came back in with a set of keys.

"They're gone! Boys, grab your bags and come upstairs!"

"Where's Pietro?"

Melanie went outside and saw Pietro and Melody flirting.

"Pietro! Melody! Get up here!!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I feel bad for 180. It must stink having to be put in the hospital."

"We had to do it, Mandy. If the public saw how quickly their injuries healed, they would know something was up. If they heal naturally and in a crowded area, people won't think anything of it."

Everyone was sitting in the living room and dining room, eating steak, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and anything else they wanted to put on the grill outside.

"What do you guys usually do for Christmas?" Maxwell asked the Brotherhood.

They gulped and looked a bit distraught.

"We..." Fred started. "This is our first Christmas together. We all just met up because of our powers. I'd probably be on tour with another carnival or truck rally as the strongest teen."

Lance leaned back in his chair.

"I'd be back home with my loser family who never cared if I was at home, school, or wherever."

Toad went next.

"I'd be back with the nuns at the orphange. And the brats."

"I'd be home by myself, trying to get noticed by someone."

Malcolm and his brothers were mentally hitting themselves. They didn't think the boys had it that rough.

Megan and Melanie went over and sat on their boyfriend's laps. Melody went over to Pietro and gently put a hand on his arm. He smiled down at her and wished he hadn't said that out loud. He hated how people might think he was weaker just because he wanted attention sometimes.

"Okay. Tense moment. Who wants ice cream?"

"Are you trying to kill me, Maya?!" Martin yelled.

"What?"

"Ice cream is my weakness and you know it!"

She smirked.

"Really? Maybe it was bad I got five tubs. Its all good though. Neopalitan, Death by Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip, Moose Tracks, and Strawberry."

"My favorite!" Melody screamed running to the freezer.

Pietro zoomed into the kitchen, set out the bowls, unwrapped the ice cream, and grabbed enough silverware in three seconds. He filled two of the bowls with strawberry and handed one to her.

Megan ran into the kitchen.

"Freddie! Which one?!"

"Death by Chocolate!"

Everyone got their bowls and grabbed their ice cream. Martin nearly cried when he took his first bite.

"I'll kill you, Maya. I swear I'll kill you. This will make me gain eight pounds."

Melanie laughed as she and Toad ate Moose Tracks.

"Are you glad you guys came?" Mandy asked sitting on the counter.

The Brotherhood looked at each other and tried unsuccessfully not to smile.

"Kind of."

"Beats 'Its A Wonderful Life' on cable."

"Kind of wish we had the girls in bikinis and fighting."

"Toad...shut up before you sleep outside."


	7. Chapter 7

At the Xavier Institute, the students were exchanging presents and saying goodbyes before everyone would be heading home.

Melinda was the only Wilbur sister still there and had to give the presents out. She was finishing up wrapping them, thinking about how Christmas was only a week away.

"All right. MP3 players for Roberto, Amara, Samuel, and Jamie. For Evan, a signed poster by the Festering Boils. Ray and Bobby get the video games. Rogue, Rahne, Scott, and Jubilation, get the CD players. Kitty gets the new cellphone covers for the phone her parents got her. And Jean gets the 'A Tale of Two Cities' book."

She looked over at the presents for the Professors.

" '1001 Books To Read' for Professor McCoy, necklace for Ororo, and a new chess board and pieces for Professor X."

Melinda sighed.

It would have been a pain to wrap and move Logan's present so the girls just put it in his room.

"Kurt!" Melinda yelled down the hall.

He teleported in front of her.

_"Do I get my present now?"_

_"No. You get it once we get to your parents."_

_"Aw! Please?"_

His tail moved back and forth and he held her. She giggled and kissed him.

_"I love you, Kurt."_

_"And I love you, my Melinda."_

_"I need you to help me take these presents downstairs."_

They went over to the presents and started teleporting them in front of the large Christmas tree.

"Now, once more to my room, Kurt. Then wait down here."

Kurt obeyed and started distributing the presents.

"Wicked!"

"This is so awesome!"

"Are there any other sisters still single?"

Melinda walked into the living room wearing a velvet red Mrs. Kringle mini dress with a fluffly white trim. Kurt's tail wagged back and forth excitedly. He started saying how beautiful she was in German as the others crowded around him.

"Dude! You really suck!"

"Why can't we have girlfriends that cute?"

Jean was happy she got the book, truth was she had been looking for a copy for a while, and felt bad about what she had said to Melanie.

Hank, Ororo, and Charles went over to say thank you to Melanie for their presents when Logan ran into the room and gave Melinda a noogie.

"Ow! Let go!"

Kurt growled and teleported on top of Logan.

"Off the girlfriend!"

"Logan," Professor X said confused. "What's going on?"

"The girls got me a pool table and put it in my room!"

"What?!"

"Dude, bring that down here!"

"No way. You kids would blast that beauty to bits."

Kurt teleported up to his room and grabbed a small bit of mistletoe Melanie had given him.

When he found Melanie, she was on the couch, next to Kitty, Amara, and Jubilee. He snuck up behind her and waved the mistletoe over her head.

She looked up and blushed.

"Kurt!"

"All in the holiday spirit!"

He leaned down and tried to kiss her but she moved away.

"Nope! Nuh-uh."

She ran and he hopped after her. He jumped over Logan and Professor X as Melinda laughed.

"To be young..."

"Yeah...glad that's over."

"I must admit. This institute seems more alive with the Wilbur sisters. I can almost say I miss Megan's tired outbursts in the morning."

"I still don't get how she could walk through a door when she's half-asleep."

Kurt managed to catch Melinda and gave her a passionate kiss. Samuel, Ray, Roberto, and Bobby saw it. They started whistiling and cheering.

"How about a mistletoe kiss for us, Ms. Kringle?"

She turned her head to the boys as Kurt wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I don't think Kurt would like that idea very much."

--------------------------------------------------------

The next day, all of the students and teachers were loading up the two cars. Only Rogue, Scott, Professor X, and Mr. McCoy would be staying at the Institute. Kurt and Melinda were in the back of the Storm's car. She, Evan, Melinda, Kurt, Ray, and Kitty were in the car.

Kurt had his image inducer on but kept sliding his tail on Melinda's arm. He had his usual outfit on but had a large blue coat on. She was wearing a thick purple sweater, her pink coat in her arms, and a pair of beige pants.

"Kurt!"

He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her neck.

"No! I don't want to meet your parents with marks on my neck!"

Kitty started laughing.

"I wish you guys would speak German with _these_ kids of conversations!"

"Don't be jealous," Kurt said with a smile.

The rest of the car ride was awkward... especially since Ray became excited to go home and shocked Melinda. He apoligized but her hair was sticking up everywhere.

As soon as Kurt and Melinda reached their plane, she tried to make sure her hair wasn't a complete disaster.

"You look fine."

"I don't want to look weird for your parents."

He kissed her cheek and held her hand.

"Just sleep. Its going to be a long trip."

She leaned back, made sure he seatbelt was locked, and started to fall asleep. The last thing she heard was the stewardess asking everyone to fasten their seatbelts.

--------------------------------------------

Melinda woke up to Kurt shaking her.

"We're here!"

She looked around. Everyone was getting up and grabbing their things. He was now in his regular red shirt and tan jacket.

"You sure I don't look bad?"

He leaned over and kissed her.

"You look perfect."

They got up and grabbed their carry ons.

"Kurt, you go first. I'm nervous."

He nodded and walked ahead of her. She followed a few people behind and watched as he scanned the crowd. Once he saw an older couple, he smiled and waved. The woman had white hair and the man had black hair on the top of his head but gray on the sides.

Kurt ran over and hugged them.

Melinda inspected her appearance as she watched them.

Kurt was talking to his parents.

_"Mom, Dad, I missed you so much!"_

_"Kurt, we missed you too!"_

_"How was America? Everyone treat you nice?"_

_"Wonderful. There's someone I want you to meet."_

He went over to Melinda and took her hand.

_"Mom, Dad, this is Melinda Wilbur."_

Melinda blushed.

_"Its a pleasure to meet the both of you."_

_"Oh! You speak German!"_

Mr. Wagner shook her hand.

_"Its good to finally meet you. Let's get the house so we can talk."_

--------------------------------------

They reached the small cabin that was located near a river. In front of their house, it was merely a trickle, which only went to one's knees, while the river a short walk away was as deep as a pond.

Melinda walked into the house and gasped. There was a living room with a fireplace, a kitchen a few steps away with older appliances, and a hallway leading to the stairs and a few rooms.

_"This is beautiful!" _she said turning to Mrs. Wagner.

_"Thank you!"_

Kurt looked at the fireplace and blushed.

_"Mom!"_

Melinda looked over and laughed. A majority of the pictures on the mantel of the fireplace were of a young Kurt, or of him and Melinda.

_"Now now. I'm sure Melinda is dying to know how you were growing up."_

_"Yes! Please!"_

-------------------------------------------------------

Kurt wanted to teleport himself to another planet. His parents managed to remember every single embarrassing story of his life. His father sat in his old arm chair, his mom and Melinda on the loveseat, and he tried to hide on the sofa.

_"And our boy was able to swallow every last one of those goldfish!"_

Melinda laughed and looked over at Kurt.

_"You okay, Beau?"_

He tried to make a decent smile.

_"Fine. Except now you know all of my awful secrets. Some even I wasn't aware happened."_

_"Kurt," _Mr. Wagner said laughing. _"Its normal."_

Melinda looked over at the fireplace.

_"Does this still work?"_

_"Yes. It takes forever to heat up though."_

Melinda went over and tossed a few logs in it. She looked up and made sure there wasn't any residue or bats or anything up the chimney.

She grabbed another piece and set it on fire in her hands.

His parents looked amazed as Kurt beamed proudly.


	8. Chapter 8

In Florida, the family was decorating the five inch tree in the dining room that acted as the centerpiece. Each of the siblings had their own little ornament and would go, in order of birth, to put them on the tree. Lance, Todd, Fred, and Pietro watched from the kitchen.

Melinda, since she was technically the oldest, didn't have an ornament of her own but Melanie made one using clay. That went on the tree first. It then went to the three oldest brothers, Maxwell, Malcolm, and Martin, then the sisters, Megan, Melody, Mandy, Maya, and Melanie.

"Since our brothers aren't here," Melanie said going over to the Brotherhood. "Why don't these guys put up their ornaments?"

Megan immediately ran over to Fred and handed him Marcello's.

"Come on, Freddie!"

Lance put on Myles', Pietro put on Mitchell's, Fred put on Marcello's, and Todd put on Marc's.

The group smiled and could feel the holiday spirit. Todd looked over to Melanie and blushed. She was wearing a blue sweater with a pair of jeans. He thought that she was as beautiful as if she was in an evening gown.

"Oh yeah! I forgot!"

Todd hopped over to where Melanie was going to be staying.

"I brought this for you guys! Mrs. Crabapple gave this to us!"

He brought three fruitcakes into the kitchen.

Maya screamed, turned into a cat, and clung to the ceiling.

Melanie went over to Todd.

"Thanks, sweetheart."

He blushed and gave her the fruitcakes.

"Ignore, Maya," Malcolm said staring at the fruitcakes intently. "Can I have the first piece?"

The group went to the kitchen where Megan and Fred cut the fruitcakes. Melanie was still holding Todd's hands when she noticed the key basket near them.

"Todd? Want to go explore?"

He smiled and looked over at the basket.

"Which keys?"

"Martin's. The ones with the Ravens keychain."

He shot out his tongue and grabbed the keys. Before anyone noticed, she had teleported him outside and in front of the Porche Cayenne.

"Can I drive?"

"You can do whatever you want, Todd. Just make it fast."

He hopped to the driver's seat and started the car.

Melanie jumped into the passenger's seat and they drove off.

Todd smiled and moved in the leather seat.

"This is one of the coolest cars I have ever driven."

Melanie moved closer to him and rubbed her hand on his thigh.

"You look really cool driving it."

It was late at night and the streets were nearly empty.

He leaned back and put his arm around her.

"Love you, Sugar Plum."

"I love you too, Todd."

They drove to a vacant parking lot, all but a few spots were filled with cars.

Todd parked in one of the open spots and pulled Melanie on top of him.

"Everyone's probably wondering where we-"

Her back pocket of her jeans started ringing. Todd gladly reached his hand into her pocket and took the battery out of the phone. He tossed the phone in the back and put both hands on her butt. Melanie moaned before she kissed him. He fervently kissed back and put her on his lap.

His tongue licked her lower lip as his hands went from her rear to the bottom of her shirt. Todd tugged at the shirt nervously. He wanted to go farther but didn't know what to do.

_Shit. What if she don't want to? She's so beautiful! Please don't let my hands get all sweaty!_

Melanie smiled and pulled away. Todd stared at her confused.

"Don't worry. Your hands aren't sweaty."

"You read my mind?"

She took off her blue sweater and kissed his neck.

"Do you not want me to read your mind? It can...help me."

He groaned and tried to keep the pulsing in his lower region under control.

_Fuck. I-I can't stop. She's so hot. So hot so hot so hot!_

Melanie chuckled and accidently hit the dashboard with her back. The glove box fell open and several items fell out.

Todd looked over and found his wallet. Melanie went through it and found two hundred dollars and three credit cards.

Melanie looked into Todd's eyes.

"Do you want to..."

_Yes! Thank you, God!_

"O-Only if you want to."

Melanie slipped her sweater back on and locked the doors.

"I know where to go."

She grabbed his hand and teleported to a nearby hotel. Todd looked up and saw the Four Seasons. Melanie nervously looked at Todd.

"I wanted our first time to be really special."

She linked her arm with his and they went inside. Several people were in the lobby area and the bar was loaded with people. Melanie tried to hide her face and rushed to the desk. The last thing she wanted was people thinking she was one of her sisters.

The man at the front desk looked at the young couple.

"May I help you?"

"We would like a room for the night."

The man looked at Melanie with a questioning look before his eyes turned to the size of dinner plates.

"I'm not who you think. I'm Melanie Wilbur."

The man smiled and nodded.

"I-I'm a big fan of Maya. She really helped out with the animals in Yellowstone National Park last year."

Melanie put the black American Express on the counter.

"We would like to keep our visit...discreet. You understand?"

"Of course, Miss Smith."

He handed them a set of room keys.

"This room has a particularly beautiful view of the city. Room 608."

Melanie took the key, nodded politely, then rushed her and Todd to the closest elevator. As soon as the doors closed, Todd wrapped an arm around her waist and slid his hand in her back pocket.

"N-Not yet, Todd. We have to hurry to the room."

When the doors reopened to their floor, Melanie sprinted down the hallway. Todd hopped after her. The second the door opened, she pulled him inside. When they turned on the lights, they both were amazed. The large bed was covered in white rose petals that contrasted beautifully on the red satin cover and the large window had one of the most spectacular views of the city.

"This is the greatest moment of my life," Todd said looking at Melanie. "I-I know its lame but...I want to take a shower first. P-Please don't-"

She quieted him by kissing him.

"Its okay. You go take a shower and I'll...get myself ready."

Melanie got close to his ears and whispered.

"Make sure to get behind your ears."

He trembled and rushed into the bathroom.

-------------------

Todd finished his shower in the hotel room and nervously checked himself in the mirror. He had only his green boxers on and could already feel his member becoming excited.

He opened the door and saw the room was pitch black. The light from the bathroom poured onto the bed where Melanie was waiting underneath silk sheets. She was wearing a purple bra and panties.

"Todd," she moaned staring at him.

Todd turned off the light and jumped into the bed. He slid under the covers and kissed her with all the passion he could muster up. His hands felt her stomach and traveled up to her breasts.

"Please. Please be sure," Toad whispered.

She kissed him and moved her hands to the waistband of his boxers.

------------------------------------------------------------

Martin paced the kitchen as he kept trying to call Melanie. The siblings were worried where Todd and Melanie disappeared to.

The Brotherhood...not so much. Actually, on the couch, Fred and Megan were using the chance to make-out since everyone was distracted. Melody and Pietro were giving each other secret glances throughout the time.

"M-Maybe Pietro and I should go out and look. I have my Mustang outside."

"Good idea, Melody. Call us if you get anything."

Lance groaned.

"I'm telling you people. They're just goofing off somewhere. Todd probably pulled the battery out of Melanie's phone and they're crashing some party. At Duncan's, they completely trashed the place."

The girls knew Melanie was most likely having fun with her boyfriend but the brothers still were nervous about Todd.

"We were that age once!"

"Yeah, a few years ago!"

"Shut it! Point is, we know what goes through a guy's mind."

"Martin, you're a pervert," Megan said separating from Fred. "Todd's an okay guy."

----------------------------------

Todd and Melanie laid in the luxurious bed panting and exhausted. He pulled her body close to him as his tongue licked away her sweat.

"Thank you," he muttered.

"For what?"

"For...letting me your first. And for being my first."

She smiled and played with his hair.

"You were absolutely amazing. I never knew how you could use that tongue of yours."

He smirked and started kissing her breasts.

"I love you, Sugar Plum."

"I love you too, Toad."

He let go of Melanie and laid on his stomach next to her.

"These sheets are incredible."

"They're silk," she said getting onto his back and starting a light massage. "If the man downstairs is a fan of Maya, maybe I can get him to give us a set."

"Or we use your brother's money to buy our own."

She laughed.

"I'm a pretty decent pick-pocket. I managed to steal over a hundred wallets growing up. 'Course I had to make sure no one suspected me."

He sighed happily.

"That's the spot."

Melanie finished the massage and got off of him. He stared at her body as she slid back underneath the covers.

"Is this for real?"

"What?"

"I didn't grow up with the silver spoon in my mouth. I barely had any friends because of... how I looked. Adults were always keepin' people away from me at the orphanage because they thought I was sick. I've been beaten senseless, had rocks thrown at me-"

Melanie turned over to him and kissed him. She pulled away after a few seconds and cupped his face in her hand.

"Anyway, I can't understand how I have a girl like you. You're beautiful...you're smart...you're nice..."

"I have a rich family..."

He chuckled.

"There's that. I guess I'm tryin' to turn my life around somewhat. I'm nervous you're gonna realize what a loser I am and find a great guy."

Melanie snuggled close to him and held him.

"You're the great guy I've been waiting for. I don't want anyone else. I love everything about you."

He kissed the top of her head.

"I hate to say it, but you need to tell your family you're okay."

She groaned.

"All right."

She focused on Professor Xavier's powers and contacted Megan, who was making out with Fred once again. (bold is mental conversation.)

**"GROSS!!"**

Megan pulled away from Fred.

**"Melanie? Where are you?"**

**"Toad and I are crashing a few parties. We'll come back tomorrow."**

**"Okay. I'll let everyone know."**


	9. Chapter 9

Todd and Melanie snuck back into the condo shortly before seven in the morning.

"Look who finally came home."

Megan was on the couch watching tv.

"What are you doing?"

"You remember when I went to help my friend, another stunt double, to jump off a building?"

"Yeah."

"He's now scaling the Gateway Arch."

"Uh...huh."

"Malcolm and Martin are freaked that you two stayed out all night. Maxwell was okay."

"He never gets too upset."

"I-I'm gonna go upstairs," Toad said nervously.

He gave Melanie a quick kiss on the cheek and left.

"Have a fun night?"

"Yeah. We fooled around and had some fun."

"Lance told us you were probably causing chaos at some party."

The two laughed.

"Do we have anything planned for today?"

"Christmas is in five days and it seems like everyone wants to go off on their own for today. Martin is going out with an old flame, Maya and Mandy are going out with their boyfriends, Melody planned on working on some 'designer' outfits with Pietro, Maxwell wanted to volunteer at the local clinic, and Malcolm is going on a date with that girlfriend of his..."

"Isabella. I think they're a perfect match for each other."

"I would hope so after the rock he has hidden in Martin's bedroom."

"What?!"

"I think its her Christmas present."

"This is amazing!"

"Just keep it quiet. I found it while I was trying to find this old shirt of his. He said that Alex Thompson, the weird baseball player he likes, signed it for him."

"Weird."

"Its Martin. What did you expect?"

-----------------------------------------------

Megan was nervous as the family started separating. Todd and Melanie were going with Lance to find some local fun, Pietro and Melody were hanging out at a fabric store as they worked, Maya and Mandy took off with their biker boyfriends, Maxwell went to the clinic, and Martin and Malcolm were on a double date.

That left her and Fred to do whatever they wanted.

She blushed and looked at the neatly wrapped small box in her hands. Fred and her just started dating and she didn't want to get anything too flashy but something special. The watch was one of the biggest she could find and she hoped it would fit his rather large wrists.

It took all of her concentration when she wrapped the present. Her super-strength was still shaky and she frequently had to focus just to hold a drink without crushing it.

Fred suddenly jumped into the bedroom.

"Found you!"

Megan let out a scream and slammed her hands together. The sound of breaking glass and gears made her look down.

"Megan?"

"Um, just give me a minute."

" 'Kay."

Fred closed the door and Megan looked down at the broken box. (Bold is thoughts, italics are another language for further reference.)

**No! Crap! What am I gonna do? M-Max! He can turn back time and fix it! But I told Fred we would check out the sights. He'll think something is up if we suddenly go to the clinic. Melanie! We'll just go everywhere and look for her!**

She left the bedroom and saw Fred waiting nervously near the front door.

"Ready, Freddie?"

-----------------------------

Melody and Pietro were able to set up a stand outside of a large store.

"Mel, you sure people will buy this?"

"Of course. And with the pictures I have of me wearing some of these clothes, people will jump at these low prices!"

He chuckled as he looked at the $40 shirts and $80 dresses. In total, they spent eight hundred on fabrics but as soon as people saw Melody, the clothes started flying off the table.

Melody even gave out fashion tips for whatever people bought.

"This is a nice, summer dress. Just add some gold jewelry to bring out the lighter colors in it."

Pietro sat in a chair and managed the money. He was mainly the one who made all of the clothes but it only took him fifteen minutes to make the thirty shirts and forty dresses.

"How did we do?" Melody asked as the last three dresses were taken.

Everything cleaned out in half an hour.

Pietro had a devious smile as he counted the money again and again.

"Six...thousand...dollars."

"Sweet!"

"But if my math was right, we were supossed to make $5,600."

"I sold some autographs. There was a small charge fee and a little extra if I had to personalize it."

"You are a genius."

"We better get out of here before the cops come."

Melody and Pietro took the tables and hangers back into the store.

"How'd you convince them to lend you all this stuff?"

"Duh. Hypnotize people with my voice. The manager was hard but a few lines from 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend,' she caved."

He looked at her confused.

"I can't just make up lyrics. I need a normal song that people could hear and recognize. It would be weird if I just started singing 'give me your tables and hangers.' "

He laughed.

Melody smiled at him.

"You should smile more, Pietro. Not your cynical smile."

He felt his cheeks heat up but pretended to cough.

"You okay?"

"Just a cold."

They quickly ran from the building and started wandering around.

"There's some commotion at this Japanese place," Pietro said pointing to it.

Melody and Pietro pushed through the crowd and heard people chanting in Japanese.

"No..."

There, sitting in the middle of the restaurant, was a large man, nearly 400 pounds, Japanese lineage, eating a large pile of sushi.

"Who is that guy?"

"That's Hiroto Mirakuya. He's known as the 'shining star' of sumo in Japan."

"He could take Blob on."

"You better hope not."

"Why?"

"That's Megan's ex-boyfriend."

-----------------------------------

Fred may be a little slow when it came to school, but when Megan kept looking in every store they went by, he knew something was up.

"Uh...Nutmeg?"

Megan didn't react to Fred's nickname for her.

"You say something?"

"I called you. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," she said glancing around in every direction. "Why?"

"You look... nervous."

"I'm fine."

"You keep grabbing your purse."

She looked up at him.

"Nutmeg, what's wrong?"

"I-I was trying to find Melanie."

"Why?"

"I...broke your Christmas present."

She pulled the crushed box out of her purse.

"I held it too tight. I wanted to find her so she could fix it."

Fred looked at the little neatly wrapped santa print box.

"You wanted her to fix it?"

"Before you saw it."

He laughed.

"Its no big deal. You didn't even have to get me anything."

"I-I wanted to and it took forever for me to find something nice."

He opened one of the pockets on his overalls and pulled out a poorly decorated orange box.

"Want to compare?"

She laughed.

"I'm not used to my power either."

He lifted her up and held her.

"Fred! People are staring!" she said trying to get out.

People walked passed them and stared as he kissed her.

_"What is this?!"_

Megan immediately jumped and looked behind them. Pietro and Melody were hiding behind the worst of her ex-boyfriends.

"Hiroto."

"I leave country for a few months and you're making out with this slimmo?!"

Megan looked at Hiroto with a glare.

"Did he call me slim?"

"He's a sumo wrestler. That's an insult to him."

Fred growled and marched over.

"I could take you down without twitching an eyebrow!"

"Its eyelash, Blob."

Hiroto glanced to Megan.

"You and I are together."

"Hiroto, I thought we agreed it was over!"

"No. I want you."

Blob went to the side of the road and picked up a parked minivan.

"Megan is mine!"

Hiroto stared up in amazement, stuttered nervously, and ran. Pietro and Melody sighed in relief as Megan calmed Fred down.

"Fred. Its okay."

"He...he said you were his."

He set the car back down and looked around. People on the street were staring.

Megan put her hand on his arm.

"Maybe we should go back to Martin's."

-------------------------------

Fred was nervous the rest of the night. Megan managed to get a hold of Maxwell once he got home and he fixed Fred's present. While everyone was on the couch watching a Christmas episode of _Law and Order_, Megan found Fred sitting on the beach.

"Fred?"

"I-I'm sorry about before."

She sat next to him and hugged his right arm.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything."

"I could've...you know...not freak out when he..."

He sighed.

"I got jealous."

She gently rubbed her fingertips on his biceps.

"You should know you're the guy for me. There's not a single guy in this country who is stronger than you."

Megan sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Freddie Bear, you don't need to try hard."

"I-I guess I just exploded. I never met a girl like you before. You're so open and tough. I don't want some new guy coming over and you want him."

She looked into his eyes and smiled.

"Its sweet you care about me that much."

He blushed and looked away.

"I'm not sweet. I'm a brute."

She laughed. Everyone at school was shocked when they first saw Fred and Megan together. They always thought he was one of the roughest guys in the school and worried what he might do.

She played with his mohawk as he held her close.

"Want to go back inside?"

"They aren't watching some lame Christmas thing are they?"


	10. Chapter 10

Todd and Melanie snuck back into the condo shortly before seven in the morning.

"Look who finally came home."

Megan was on the couch watching tv.

"What are you doing?"

"You remember when I went to help my friend, another stunt double, to jump off a building?"

"Yeah."

"He's now scaling the Gateway Arch."

"Uh...huh."

"Malcolm and Martin are freaked that you two stayed out all night. Maxwell was okay."

"He never gets too upset."

"I-I'm gonna go upstairs," Toad said nervously.

He gave Melanie a quick kiss on the cheek and left.

"Have a fun night?"

"Yeah. We fooled around and had some fun."

"Lance told us you were probably causing chaos at some party."

The two laughed.

"Do we have anything planned for today?"

"Christmas is in five days and it seems like everyone wants to go off on their own for today. Martin is going out with an old flame, Maya and Mandy are going out with their boyfriends, Melody planned on working on some 'designer' outfits with Pietro, Maxwell wanted to volunteer at the local clinic, and Malcolm is going on a date with that girlfriend of his..."

"Isabella. I think they're a perfect match for each other."

"I would hope so after the rock he has hidden in Martin's bedroom."

"What?!"

"I think its her Christmas present."

"This is amazing!"

"Just keep it quiet. I found it while I was trying to find this old shirt of his. He said that Alex Thompson, the weird baseball player he likes, signed it for him."

"Weird."

"Its Martin. What did you expect?"

-----------------------------------------------

Megan was nervous as the family started separating. Todd and Melanie were going with Lance to find some local fun, Pietro and Melody were hanging out at a fabric store as they worked, Maya and Mandy took off with their biker boyfriends, Maxwell went to the clinic, and Martin and Malcolm were on a double date.

That left her and Fred to do whatever they wanted.

She blushed and looked at the neatly wrapped small box in her hands. Fred and her just started dating and she didn't want to get anything too flashy but something special. The watch was one of the biggest she could find and she hoped it would fit his rather large wrists.

It took all of her concentration when she wrapped the present. Her super-strength was still shaky and she frequently had to focus just to hold a drink without crushing it.

Fred suddenly jumped into the bedroom.

"Found you!"

Megan let out a scream and slammed her hands together. The sound of breaking glass and gears made her look down.

"Megan?"

"Um, just give me a minute."

" 'Kay."

Fred closed the door and Megan looked down at the broken box. (Bold is thoughts, italics are another language for further reference.)

**No! Crap! What am I gonna do? M-Max! He can turn back time and fix it! But I told Fred we would check out the sights. He'll think something is up if we suddenly go to the clinic. Melanie! We'll just go everywhere and look for her!**

She left the bedroom and saw Fred waiting nervously near the front door.

"Ready, Freddie?"

-----------------------------

Melody and Pietro were able to set up a stand outside of a large store.

"Mel, you sure people will buy this?"

"Of course. And with the pictures I have of me wearing some of these clothes, people will jump at these low prices!"

He chuckled as he looked at the $40 shirts and $80 dresses. In total, they spent eight hundred on fabrics but as soon as people saw Melody, the clothes started flying off the table.

Melody even gave out fashion tips for whatever people bought.

"This is a nice, summer dress. Just add some gold jewelry to bring out the lighter colors in it."

Pietro sat in a chair and managed the money. He was mainly the one who made all of the clothes but it only took him fifteen minutes to make the thirty shirts and forty dresses.

"How did we do?" Melody asked as the last three dresses were taken.

Everything cleaned out in half an hour.

Pietro had a devious smile as he counted the money again and again.

"Six...thousand...dollars."

"Sweet!"

"But if my math was right, we were supossed to make $5,600."

"I sold some autographs. There was a small charge fee and a little extra if I had to personalize it."

"You are a genius."

"We better get out of here before the cops come."

Melody and Pietro took the tables and hangers back into the store.

"How'd you convince them to lend you all this stuff?"

"Duh. Hypnotize people with my voice. The manager was hard but a few lines from 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend,' she caved."

He looked at her confused.

"I can't just make up lyrics. I need a normal song that people could hear and recognize. It would be weird if I just started singing 'give me your tables and hangers.' "

He laughed.

Melody smiled at him.

"You should smile more, Pietro. Not your cynical smile."

He felt his cheeks heat up but pretended to cough.

"You okay?"

"Just a cold."

They quickly ran from the building and started wandering around.

"There's some commotion at this Japanese place," Pietro said pointing to it.

Melody and Pietro pushed through the crowd and heard people chanting in Japanese.

"No..."

There, sitting in the middle of the restaurant, was a large man, nearly 400 pounds, Japanese lineage, eating a large pile of sushi.

"Who is that guy?"

"That's Hiroto Mirakuya. He's known as the 'shining star' of sumo in Japan."

"He could take Blob on."

"You better hope not."

"Why?"

"That's Megan's ex-boyfriend."

-----------------------------------

Fred may be a little slow when it came to school, but when Megan kept looking in every store they went by, he knew something was up.

"Uh...Nutmeg?"

Megan didn't react to Fred's nickname for her.

"You say something?"

"I called you. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," she said glancing around in every direction. "Why?"

"You look... nervous."

"I'm fine."

"You keep grabbing your purse."

She looked up at him.

"Nutmeg, what's wrong?"

"I-I was trying to find Melanie."

"Why?"

"I...broke your Christmas present."

She pulled the crushed box out of her purse.

"I held it too tight. I wanted to find her so she could fix it."

Fred looked at the little neatly wrapped santa print box.

"You wanted her to fix it?"

"Before you saw it."

He laughed.

"Its no big deal. You didn't even have to get me anything."

"I-I wanted to and it took forever for me to find something nice."

He opened one of the pockets on his overalls and pulled out a poorly decorated orange box.

"Want to compare?"

She laughed.

"I'm not used to my power either."

He lifted her up and held her.

"Fred! People are staring!" she said trying to get out.

People walked passed them and stared as he kissed her.

_"What is this?!"_

Megan immediately jumped and looked behind them. Pietro and Melody were hiding behind the worst of her ex-boyfriends.

"Hiroto."

"I leave country for a few months and you're making out with this slimmo?!"

Megan looked at Hiroto with a glare.

"Did he call me slim?"

"He's a sumo wrestler. That's an insult to him."

Fred growled and marched over.

"I could take you down without twitching an eyebrow!"

"Its eyelash, Blob."

Hiroto glanced to Megan.

"You and I are together."

"Hiroto, I thought we agreed it was over!"

"No. I want you."

Blob went to the side of the road and picked up a parked minivan.

"Megan is mine!"

Hiroto stared up in amazement, stuttered nervously, and ran. Pietro and Melody sighed in relief as Megan calmed Fred down.

"Fred. Its okay."

"He...he said you were his."

He set the car back down and looked around. People on the street were staring.

Megan put her hand on his arm.

"Maybe we should go back to Martin's."

-------------------------------

Fred was nervous the rest of the night. Megan managed to get a hold of Maxwell once he got home and he fixed Fred's present. While everyone was on the couch watching a Christmas episode of _Law and Order_, Megan found Fred sitting on the beach.

"Fred?"

"I-I'm sorry about before."

She sat next to him and hugged his right arm.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything."

"I could've...you know...not freak out when he..."

He sighed.

"I got jealous."

She gently rubbed her fingertips on his biceps.

"You should know you're the guy for me. There's not a single guy in this country who is stronger than you."

Megan sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Freddie Bear, you don't need to try hard."

"I-I guess I just exploded. I never met a girl like you before. You're so open and tough. I don't want some new guy coming over and you want him."

She looked into his eyes and smiled.

"Its sweet you care about me that much."

He blushed and looked away.

"I'm not sweet. I'm a brute."

She laughed. Everyone at school was shocked when they first saw Fred and Megan together. They always thought he was one of the roughest guys in the school and worried what he might do.

She played with his mohawk as he held her close.

"Want to go back inside?"

"They aren't watching some lame Christmas thing are they?"


	11. Chapter 11

In Germany, Christmas Eve had finally arrived. Melinda was staying in the guest room downstairs while Kurt and his parents stayed in their rooms upstairs.

His parents absolutely adored Melinda but knew what went through a young man's head.

Mrs. Wagner and Melinda prepared lunch while Kurt slept and Mr. Wagner went to cut down a Christmas Tree.

_"Mrs. Wagner, this food smells amazing! I didn't know there were so many traditions in Germany for Christmas."_

_"You took German in school, yes?"_

_"For a few years when I was young. I was one of the few students who loved that class the best. One time, my teacher brought in this cinnamon that's made during Christmas."_

_"Reisbri! We're making that too."_

_"Really?!"_

Melinda laughed and thought about all the delicious food they were making.

_"Your German is nearly perfect. I'm very impressed."_

_"Thank you very much!"_

A sudden poof behind her made her think something was wrong with the oven. Two arms wrapped around her waist and a head rested on her shoulder.

_"Good morning, Kurt."_

_"Morning, my Melinda."_

Mrs. Wagner smiled as her son's tail swished sleepily back and forth.

_"Ready to greet the morning, Kurt?"_

_"Sorry, Mother. Melinda made me stay up-"_

_"I did not!"_ she said elbowing him in the stomach.

He chuckled and rubbed his stomach.

_"Just remember. After dinner you have to go outside."_

_"Why?"_

_"Mother! Can't we watch you decorate the tree this time?"_

Melinda remembered how parents would decorate Christmas trees while the kids were kept in another room. They would put decorations and treats in for the kids.

_"No, Kurt."_

He groaned started to fumble through the kitchen.

_"Kurt, we're making lunch!"_

_"Okay! I'm sorry!"_

Melinda laughed as he plopped down in the living room.

---------------------------------------------

Melinda, Kurt, and Mrs. Wagner spent the day cooking while Mr. Wagner made sure the Christmas lights were untangled and every ornament was found.

His parents were especially pleased with Melinda's powers after she was able to cook the Christstollen, which were long loaves of bread bursting with nuts, raisins, citron and dried fruit, in her hands in only a few minutes.

She blushed and tried to hide. Kurt pulled her back and looked to his parents.

_"You two always decorate the tree before the big dinner. Why don't you do that and we'll go outside?"_

_"No funny buisness, Kurt."_

_"Father!"_

Melinda and Kurt went outside, where the sun was just setting over the horizon.

_"Thank you for letting me come with you, Kurt."_

She zipped up her coat more and held Kurt's hand. He stared into her eyes and smiled.

_"I love you."_

_"I love you too."_

They went for a walk in the woods but only made it a few trees away from the house. Kurt pressed Melinda against a tree and kissed her.

"Melinda," he whispered kissing her neck.

"Kurt, we shouldn't-"

_"Why are you speaking English?"_

She moaned at his hot breath.

_"Well here, our secret language isn't German."_

She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Its English."

He laughed and gently bit her neck.

----------------------------------------

Mr. and Mrs. Wagner finished decorating the tree and went outside.

_"Its so nice having Kurt back home."_

_"His girlfriend is absolutely adorable."_

_"I always told you he would win the ladies over one day!"_

Mrs. Wagner glared at her husband but quickly started looking for the two teens.

"Kurt! Stop!"

Melinda was running from Kurt, who was throwing snowballs at her.

_"The tree is ready!"_

The couple ran passed the parents and went inside.

_"Wow! Mom, Dad, this is incredible!"_

The tree was filled with apples, candy, nuts, cookies, cars, angels, tinsel, family treasures, and candles.

Mr. and Mrs. Wagner hugged Kurt.

_"We love you, son."_

_"I love you guys too."_

_"Now let's get started on that feast!"_

--------------------------------------------------

The family turned in for the night around ten. Presents were nestled underneath the tree for the morning and the food for the dinner tomorrow cooled down in the icebox and refrigerator.

Melinda laid in her bed with a full stomach. It was a tradition in Germany to eat well on Christmas Eve or you would be haunted by demons in the night.

Kurt teleported into the room, wearing his usual pajamas of a white t-shirt and brown pants. He jumped into her bed and hugged her.

"Kurt, your parents didn't want you in here."

In a scary voice, he whispered in her ear.

"I am not Kurt. I am a demon that will haunt you because you did not eat enough Rote Grutze."

She laughed and played with his ears.

"Well, Mister Scary Demon. What kind of things do you plan to do to me?"

He went underneath the covers and admired her red nightgown.

"You're beautiful."

She blushed and kissed his nose.

"Don't try anything. The last thing I want is for one of your parents to walk in and think I'm some American hussy."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Despite his words, his tail slinked around her left leg and rubbed her thigh.

------------------------------------

Kurt stayed in Melinda's room for a few hours but didn't try anything worse than touching her thighs. She woke up before Kurt and took the moment in. Kurt was fast asleep, his head resting on her shoulder, his hands on her back, and his tail coiled around her waist.

Her fingers touched his soft, blue fur on his face.

What if Melanie didn't lose control of her powers so many years ago? What if she had kept her old life as Morgan?

Kurt slowly opened his eyes and saw Melinda with one of the saddest expressions he ever saw.

"Melinda? What's the matter?"

"I...was thinking about...what if I hadn't been absorbed into Melanie? What if I never met you? It-It made me-"

He stopped her by kissing her.

"Don't think that way."

"But, Kurt-"

He looked into her eyes.

"I don't want that. I want us to be here and now. No ifs. No buts. Just us."

Kurt buried his face into her neck.

"I love you, and I don't want to think of how it would be without you."

Melinda smiled and caressed his hand.

"I love you too, Kurt."

After a few minutes, Melinda crawled out of Kurt's hold.

"Merry Christmas," she said holding out a medium size box.

Kurt chuckled. It had a large green bow and covered in little reindeer wrapping paper.

"D-Don't laugh. I thought you might like them."

In the box was a green shirt with a single pocket on the chest that buttoned down and a new digital camera. The label on the shirt was from of one of the coolest stores in Bayville and the camera was supossedly 'out-of-stock' in every state after a week of its release.

"Melinda! This must have cost you an arm and a leg!"

"I thought you might like the shirt, because green looks really nice on you, and the camera because then you wouldn't have to pay Pietro to take pictures of us anymore."

Kurt's tail went around Melinda's waist as he hugged her.

"I love you, Kurt."

"I love you, my Melinda."

He let her go and went over to his dresser.

"I had to save up my allowance for this. I understand if you don't like it."

Kurt handed her a small box, the size of his hand, wrapped with plain red paper and a silver bow.

"I feel bad we didn't wait to show your parents."

"I don't want you to wait. Besides, Mom will have the camera and make us take a million pictures."

Melinda laughed and opened the box.

Inside was a present pendant, silver with gold ribbon tied in a neat little bow on top.

"Kurt...this is beautiful."

"Its also a locket," he said taking it in his hands.

It split down the middle of the box.

"I-I wanted to get something you would like but it was hard to find something that was nice and-"

Melinda kissed Kurt.

"I love it. Its beautiful!"

"T-The chain that came with it broke when I showed it to Evan. I'm sorry."

"There are some that I have. Its fine."

She kissed him again.

"I love it. I absolutely completely totally love it."

He smiled sheepishly.

"I-I had to ask Amara to help me find something. Anyone else would have-"

"Blabbed."

"Yeah."

Melinda hugged him.

"I told you I love you, right?"

"About five times since we woke up."


	12. Chapter 12

Christmas came, New Year's passed, and school started up again. Todd hated leaving Florida, not as much as Pietro but still. He admired the new sneakers Melanie had gotten him for Christmas as he sat with the Brotherhood in their usual spot. Blob wouldn't shut up about the new watch Megan had gotten him.

Pieto, who made a quick few thousand with Melody, had given Todd, Blob, and Lance, a hundred dollars each. Of course he didn't plan on giving any to Tabitha.

"That girl blows up more things in the house than Blob wrecks. Her present is that we don't kick her out."

None of the boys had gotten each other presents for fear of someone thinking something was going on.

For now, they settled with allowing their girlfriends over. For Pietro, he would run from Bayville to New York, where Melody had moved. She was in the same building as Malcolm but a different floor.

When everyone started leaving Martin's condo, the Brotherhood were amazed where everyone lived. Melody and Malcolm lived in New York City, Maxwell, Mandy, and Maya lived in L.A., and Martin lived in Florida.

And the boy band, 180, was healing normally at their hospital in L.A. Fans from all across the globe were videotaping themselves and putting 'Get Well Soon' messages online.

"Pietro, what did you do with all the extra money you made?"

"I had to pay some of the stupid bills and crap Mystique left us! I can't believe how much some of the boring stuff was! If it wasn't for Melanie always fixing everything we break, we'd be dead!"

Todd smiled.

"That's my girl!"

Melanie and Megan walked over.

"You better be talking about me, cutie."

Melanie and Todd started making out as Megan and Fred went to the cafeteria.

Lance and Pietro sighed.

"How are things with Kitty going?"

"G-Good. I still want to find someway to get closer to her."

Pietro chuckled.

"You should see Melody. She's way cooler than any of her sisters."

Melanie pulled away from Todd.

"Hey! I'm right here!"

Todd pulled her back and continued making out.

"Shouldn't you lot be at lunch right now?"

The group turned and saw Principal Kelly.

"Yes," they said with a sigh.

"Maybe you should get going before that giant of yours eats everything."

He turned and started walking away.

Melanie used her mother's bubble power and used Todd's slime. The bubble floated between Kelly's legs before she popped it.

Todd started laughing.

"Great! Dude shit himself!"

He looked at Melanie.

"You're perfect."

"Thanks! Hope you don't mind but Megan and I are taking Melinda up to that ski resort this weekend."

"Mount Arrowrose? Aw. Why can't you just play in the snow here?"

She kissed his nose.

"Girl bonding time."

He smiled at that remark.

"Tying each other up kind of bonding?"

She smacked him playfully.

"Toad!"

---------------------------------------

Kurt and Melinda were in her room making out on her bed. She pulled away and looked into his eyes.

_"Kurt, do you want to..."_

He nodded and kissed her again. He gently laid her on the bed and got on top of her.

His hand nervously grabbed the end of her shirt. Melinda's hands met his and took her shirt off.

She moaned as his mouth traveled down her neck and onto her collarbone.

He quickly took off the green shirt she bought him and started undoing her jeans.

Once they were thrown to the side, Kurt started getting nervous. He wasn't...getting excited.

Melinda started working Kurt's pants but couldn't feel him getting excited.

"Kurt?"

"I-I'm sorry. I-I'm trying."

She saw his frightened expression.

"Maybe we should just stop."

He groaned and cursed in German.

"I-I'm really sorry, mein Melinda."

They started putting their clothes back on before Kurt teleported back to his room.

While Kurt was cursing and muttering in anger, Melinda went over to Melanie's room.

"Mel, I-"

She turned on the light and saw Melanie and Todd having sex.

"Melanie!"

"Melinda!"

Todd blushed and tried gathering his clothes.

Melinda quickly left the room and went back to hers. She thought about her and Kurt. Why didn't he...why wasn't he...what if he didn't want to do _that_ with her?

She crawled underneath her sheets and tried to fall asleep.

--------------------------------------------------

In the morning, Kurt went downstairs for breakfast. He didn't get a bit of sleep as he tried to figure out what happened. Scott, Evan, and Logan were the only ones in the kitchen.

"Where is everyone?"

"They all headed out early for school."

"Did something happen between you and Melinda?"

"Why?! What did she say?!"

"Nothing," Scott said chuckling. "Just she looked down about something."

Kurt groaned and looked at his friends.

"Um...have you guys ever..."

They looked at him curiously.

"What is it, bro?"

"Melinda and I...were trying to..."

Logan dropped his coffee mug.

"Kurt!"

"We didn't though! I couldn't-"

"Your friend wasn't 'up' for it?"

"Evan!"

Logan groaned, grabbed Kurt's arm, and yanked him to his bedroom. Kurt saw the pool table with a cover over it.

Logan went under his mattress and pulled out a few magazines.

"Normally, I don't condone this sort of thing...but desperate measures."

Kurt looked at the women on the covers of the magazines and knew what they were.

"Logan, why do you-"

"Do you want 'em or what?!"

Logan looked Kurt in the eye.

"It wasn't your fault last night. When a guy's first time comes around, sometimes he gets nervous and can't get ready. Just try with these first."

---------------------------------------------

Melinda and Melanie came back from school with most of the New Recruits in the back of the tahoe.

"Thanks for the ride!"

"If it wasn't for you, we might've had to walk home!"

"Just try not to miss the bus again."

Amara leaned up.

"We wanted to go see this new movie tonight. You want to go?"

"We're leaving early in the morning."

"Come on, Melinda!"

The girls smiled.

Bobby was looking in the back seat and found a picture on the floor.

"Is this Toad?"

Melanie and Melinda gasped as the New Recruits started freaking out.

"Guys, just calm-"

"Why are you making out with Toad?!"

"Are you two going out?!"

They all poured out of the car and ran into the mansion.

"Everyone!! Emergency!!"

Jean, Scott, Evan, and everyone but Kurt came running down.

"What's the matter?"

"Melanie's going out with Toad!!"

They laughed.

"No way!"

"She wouldn't!"

Jean went over to Melanie.

"I'll look in her mind and prove it!"

"Jean-"

Jean put her hand on Melanie's head and was flooded with images of Toad. She saw Melanie and Toad on dates, making out, and then having sex.

She yanked her hand away and started screaming.

"Gross! ARGH! Someone get these images out!! I'm poisoned!"

"Quit talking about that about my boyfriend!"

Megan walked out from the kitchen with Pietro, Fred, Todd, and Lance behind her.

"What's up?" Todd said waving.

"We're out, Todd."

He hopped over to her.

"That right, Sugar Plum?" he said kissing her neck.

Kitty went over to Lance and kissed him. Megan started kissing Fred. Pietro went over to everyone and started messing with them.

"So what's everyone doing? Got anything fun to do?"

Melinda snuck upstairs and quietly went over to Kurt's room. She smelled candles burning.

"Kurt?" she said looking in the room.

He was on his bed, naked, and had three porno magazines in front of him.

"M-Melinda!"

She stared in horror before she slammed the door. Her powers activated and she burst into flames.

Kurt came out of his room with a bathrobe on.

"Melinda, let me explain."

Melinda started screaming.

"I cannot believe you! You can't have sex with me but then you get turned on by complete strangers in some magazines?!"

The X-men raced upstairs and saw Melinda walking to her room.

"Kurt Wagner! You are unbelieveable!"

Melinda went into her room and slammed the door.

Pietro whistled as if a bomb was falling.

"All right people," Megan and Melanie said going into Melinda's room.

"Nothing to see here."

-----------------------------

Kurt was mortified. The girls didn't even bother saying goodbye after Melinda's outburst. Melanie teleported them wherever they needed, packed their bags, and headed to the ski resort.

And now the Brotherhood wouldn't leave.

Fred was eating out of the fridge.

"With your girlfriends gone, you can leave."

Lance pulled Kitty over to him.

"Yeah but Kitty and I want to get to know each other better."

"Besides, Nutmeg told us to keep an eye on you guys."

Pietro was on the phone with Melody.

"Yeah, I can talk longer. I'm at the Xavier place so I don't care what the long distance costs."

Scott groaned.

"Can't we just kick them out?"

"Hey!" Toad shouted. "I'm allowed here! They said!"

"Professor?! Logan?!"

"When Melanie and Toad started dating, we said he could come over whenever he wanted."

"And now they won't leave!"

"We'll leave in a day or two. Or a week. Pass the fried chicken, Blob."

-------------------------------------

Melinda, Melanie, and Megan stayed up at Mount Arrowrose for five days. Everything was perfect. They learned from Megan how to snowboard and ski, since some of her most famous stunts were in 'Snow Drift: Attack of the Yeti.'

Melinda was a lot happier and was starting to figure out what to do with Kurt.

"I guess it wasn't his fault. I rushed him into it."

"That's good! We planned on checking out tomorrow but want to leave now?"

"Its dark out!"

"I have my Tahoe! That can work through anything!"

Melinda smiled and played with her present pendant. The pictures she put in were of normal Kurt and the image-inducer Kurt.

Melanie went to the front desk to check out while Melinda and Megan made sure they didn't forget anything. She drove the Tahoe down one of the roads as Melinda called Kitty.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey, Kitty. We're on our way home."

_"Isn't it late?"_

"Yeah. Listen, just don't tell anyone yet. We'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She hung up and looked at the road.

"Crap!"

"What?"

"This road is closed!"

The tahoe stopped two feet in front of the sign.

"Should we turn around?"

"Nah. They're starting work tomorrow on it. Its just empty right now! Melanie, just float us over the sign and let's go."

"I'm not sure-"

"Come on!"

"I want to get back to Freddie!"

Melanie nodded and used Jean's powers to carry the car over the sign.

It was like they said, the road was clear and empty.

She drove nervously down the road.

"Melanie, its fine. Just keep going."

When she drove further down the road, she felt the ground trembling.

"What's going on?"

Megan looked out her window and saw a massive pile of snow coming towards them.


	13. Chapter 13

The last thing Megan remembered was an avalanche crashing into the Tahoe. She looked around. Her sisters were unconscious in the front, airbags deployed, and the Tahoe was crushed around them. The windows were out and they had very little room to move around.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and went over to Melanie and Melinda.

"Guys, you need to wake up."

The back of Melanie's head was bleeding.

"Fuck."

It wasn't a large gash but she knew a simple cut in below freezing conditions wasn't good.

"Melinda!"

She shook the other sister until she came around.

"Megan?"

"You okay?"

"My head hurts."

"The airbag threw you back."

"We need to..."

Melinda tried to think of what to do but couldn't plan anything.

"Don't worry. I had to go through a month of survival training before I could do stunts in the snow."

She crawled in the back and grabbed the suitcases.

"This car isn't going to last long. We need to get out. First, we need to layer up."

"What's the matter with Melanie?"

"She's knocked out. I can't get her to wake up."

Melinda touched Melanie's face.

"She's ice cold but I can feel her heart."

"I bet she's using Bobby's powers! Maybe she put herself in a coma state so she wouldn't freeze!"

"Let's put a few more clothes on her anyway."

The girls put on several sweaters each and as many pants as they could find."

"Melinda, could you melt us out of here?"

"No. All this snow would turn to water and put me out. Can you dig out?"

"I can try but I don't know how deep we are. The snow might crush the car."

Megan nervously put on two pair of gloves and rammed out of the car and through the snow.

"Melinda! Can you hear me?!"

A muffled 'yes' escaped the pile. They were at the bottom of the moutain with no road close by.

Megan estimated the car was four feet from the outside of the snow. She crawled back in and carried Melanie and Melinda out.

"I brought the two blankets."

Megan checked her watch.

"We were knocked out for quite a while. Its midnight."

"Should we try to find the road?"

"Not now. What we need to do is find a safe place for the night."

Megan carried Melanie while Melinda tried to create fire in her hands.

"Its too cold for me to create fire."

"Don't waste your energy. Save it for keeping your body warm."

They found a hollowed out tree and crawled in.

"Remember this tree. We should stay here until sunrise and then go looking for the road."

"Isn't it dangerous to fall asleep?"

"We'll take turns. You sleep first. I'll wake you up in a few hours."

--------------------------

When it was time for sunrise, Megan was wondering why it was still so dark. She stuck her head out of the tree and looked at the clouds. They were pitch black and menacing.

"Megan?"

"Great. I think another snowstorm is coming."

"What should we do?"

"Stay here. Stay close together. If we don't we can freeze."

Megan and Melinda hugged Melanie in between them.

"Why hasn't she woken up?"

"Did you see the back of her head? Its healed. Right now, she's probably keeping her mind steady on preventing frostbite."

"Should we try to wake her up?"

"No. Anyway, if you focus enough on your power, you shouldn't be in too much trouble."

She got up.

"Megan, where are you going?"

"Using my power to try and get us some help."

-------------------------------

It took an hour but Megan yanked ten trees out of the ground and surrounded the tree her sisters were in with them.

She blocked the entrance with one of the trees before she laid down.

"Storm start yet?"

"No. Soon though. I saw a few flakes when I was finishing up."

Melinda rubbed her arms.

"How far are we from the car?"

"I don't even remember which direction we came from."

---------------------------------

Megan studied hypothermia long enough to know the symptoms. There were three stages before death. She, Melinda, and Melanie hit Stage One when the storm lasted into the night. The time was 8:47.

"Melinda."

"Y-Yeah?"

"We shouldn't talk much to conserve inner heat. We need to stay close to each other."

They held Melanie between them as they draped a blanket over their bodies.

"With the blanket over us, the heat will stay in better."

"I'm so tired. I feel like I'm gonna puke."

"Its okay. Someone will come soon."

"The communicators?"

"We left them at the Mansion. Remember?"

"Oh yeah."

The three of them were shaking and breathing was becoming shallow.

"Let's try to sleep."

"Is it safe?"

"Can you try to focus on your power?"

She nodded.

----------------------------------------------------

Stage Two forced Megan to wake up around four in the morning. Melanie, Melinda, and herself were shaking worse, their faces were turning pale, and she could feel her muscles tightening to trap heat.

_Professor. Professor, please help. _

She tried communicating telepathically for the last twenty-four hours. It was a complete failure.

No one was coming.

No one knew they were there.

-----------------------------------------

Kitty looked out her bedroom window and sighed. Why couldn't school start later? It was stupid to be there so early.

She went downstairs and saw everyone at breakfast. Actually, the Wilbur sisters still weren't there.

"Um, has anyone seen Megan, Melinda, and Melanie?"

"No. They were supossed to check out of their resort yesterday. Maybe they went to visit their siblings in New York."

Kitty looked nervously out the window. Professor X noticed.

"Kitty?"

"M-Melinda called me two days ago. They said they were coming home."

Logan's eyes darted to the tv. He turned up the volume.

A newsreporter stood in front of a large pile of snow on a road.

"I'm here on one of the roads that lead up to the Mount Arrowrose resort. This road behind us was closed for good reason. Threats of a snowstorm created worry of an avalanche. As you can see behind me, it happened."

Logan turned the tv off.

"You kids go to school. We'll go look for the girls."

Kurt stood up to say something but Logan stopped him.

"You stay here, elf!"

"But she's-"

Beast went over and put his hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"There's four of us, Kurt. You all better be going."

-----------------------------------------------

Professor Xavier, Logan, Ororo, and Hank took the X-Jet to the avalanche site. Professor Xavier tried to locate their brainwaves while the other three left the jet.

"We should look at the bottom of the mountain."

They went to the pile at the bottom of the mountain. Storm used her powers to clear the snow away. Underneath, was a crushed Tahoe. Logan went over and sniffed it.

"They aren't in it. I smell blood."

"Can you smell them?"

He groaned.

"All this new snow is blocking it."

Hank climbed the trees, Storm flew, and Logan searched for any traces.

Professor Xavier recieved a small thought.

**Professor.**

**Megan. Are you all right?**

He didn't get anything after that.

**Storm, Wolverine, Beast! I just reached Megan. They're somewhere nearby.**

Hank grabbed onto another tree but it fell over.

Logan inspected the bottom.

"Yep. This is Megan's work."

Storm noticed the tree directly in front of another.

"There!"

Hank and Logan pushed the tree over and Storm saw the hollowed out tree.

Inside, there was a blanket covering three bodies.

She yanked the blanket down and saw the girls shaking terribly, blue lips, fingers, and ears, and shallow breathing.

Hank looked over.

"They're in Stage Two of hypothermia. We need to get them back to the X-Jet."

Each of them carried one of the girls and rushed back to the Jet.

"Charles, turn the heat up!"

They put the girls on three gurneys and wrapped heated blankets around them.

Charles flew the plane back toward the mansion.

"We can't let the others see them like this."

They weren't shaking as terribly now but were still turning blue.

"At least we got to them in time."


	14. Chapter 14

Kurt looked outside the classroom window. Only a few more minutes and he could teleport his way back home.

The second the school bell rang, he ran to the boys' bathroom and teleported to the roof of several buildings until he was close enough to teleport to the Xavier gate.

He put his thumb on the scanner.

"Welcome back, Kurt Wagner. Security System disabled."

He walked up to the mansion and looked around.

"Professor?"

Kurt started teleporting to different rooms.

"Storm?"

She wasn't in the green room.

"Logan?"

He wasn't in his room.

"Beast?"

Finally, he reached the hanger where the X-Jet was. The group were pushing three gurneys covered in white sheets.

"Elf," Logan said looking over.

Kurt was frozen. Three Wilbur sisters. Three gurneys covered in white sheets.

Hank went over to Kurt while Ororo and Logan took the girls to the infirmary.

Kurt's eyes stayed on them.

"Kurt. Try and relax."

He tried running to them but Hank held him back.

"M-Melinda!"

"Its all right! Just calm down!"

"She-She needs me!"

"Kurt, she has hypothermia. Right now, we need to get her warmed up."

He turned to Hank.

"The others will be coming home soon. Please try and keep them occupied. The girls need their rest."

---------------------------------------------

An hour later, the Brotherhood burst down the front door.

"Sugar Plum! Where are you?!"

"Nutmeg! Nutmeg!!"

Scott groaned in the living room.

"Who called and told them?"

"Kitty."

Kurt went over to the Brotherhood.

"They're cold but the Professor and them are-"

Pietro zoomed passed them.

Toad and Blob sighed in relief.

"Knew my girl would be too tough."

"Where are they?"

"Downstairs but we aren't-"

Pietro zoomed back.

"They're okay. Our girls are in the infirmary."

The boys headed downstairs and found their girls. Fred started bawling his eyes out and sat next to Megan.

"Nutmeg. I'm sorry! I should've called and made sure you were okay!"

Lance chuckled as Megan started waking up.

"I'm fine, Freddie. I am hungry though."

------------

Todd went over to Melanie's room. She was sitting up but looked dizzy.

"Sugar Plum!" he said tackling her back to the bed.

"Todd? What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you didn't get too cold."

He started taking off his clothes.

"Now what are you doing?"

"Its hot in here."

He laid next to her in his boxers.

"Giving you any ideas?"

She laughed and started kissing him.

-------------------

Kurt sat by Melinda's bed and waited for her to get up. From all the noise the Brotherhood was making, Melanie and Megan had to have woken up.

He took her hand and held it with both of his.

_"Melinda. Its me. I'm so sorry. Everything was messed up. I-Its not that I don't want to make love to you. I truly do. But I'm...terrified. You're so beautiful and smart while I'm...a freak. You were the first girl I ever kissed! If I scared you away, I wouldn't know what to do. I love you."_

Her hand gently squeezed back. She looked over to him and smiled.

_"I love you too, Kurt._

------------------------------

Lance and Pietro were messing around in the Xavier Institute. Pietro was talking to Melody long distance on the phone while Lance was playing pranks with Bobby, Sam, and Ray.

Jean and Scott were really getting annoyed.

"Wait. Where are Blob and Toad?"

They ran down to the infirmary and saw all the lights were off. The muffled sound of moaning came from each room.

Scott turned on the light in Megan's room as Jean turned on the light in both Melinda and Melanie's.

"Hey!"

"Oh my!"

"Get out!"

"Jean!"

"Get away!"

Todd, Fred, and Kurt smiled as their girls slid on their robes and chased after Scott and Jean.

Kurt put his hands behind his head and sighed.

"No wonder American teens have sex so much. Melinda is the best out of the Wilburs."

Fred groaned and stretched.

"Yep. My little Nutmeg is the greatest out of her family."

Todd chuckled.

"My girl's the hottest out of any of these girls."


	15. Chapter 15

After all his time earning his teaching degree, Carl Stevens knew that after mutants were outed nearly two decades ago, it would be hard to find a teaching job. His mutant ability was ever present, with his purple skin and scales. No power. Just appearance.

He was going to teach one of the mutant only classes at Bayville High School.

After mutants were discovered, schools decided to find out which students were mutants and who were 'average.' In other words, there may be three kids in one class and only have each other in their class from 9th to senior year. Around 8th grade was when most students learned if they had mutant abilities or not. If they came earlier, they stayed in normal classes until 9th.

He was going to teach the main mutant class, which consisted of juniors and sophomores. There were currently no other mutants enrolled in the school.

His classroom was small but was able to hold up to thirty desks, excluding his own in the front.

He sat down in his chair and started reading the profiles.

(mental in bold.)

**Okay. First we have Nathan Alvers. Son of Lance and Kitty Alvers. Both are identified mutants, their powers being ability to create vibrations in the ground and phase through solid objects, respectively. Mother is listed as a teacher at the Xavier Institute. **

**Brown hair, brown eyes, and much resembles his mother. **

**Next, Victoire Wilbur. Son of Malcolm and Isabella Wilbur. Malcolm is a mutant while his mother is human. Malcolm's power is to elongate his hands. Both parents are lawyers. **

**Blonde hair, green eyes, and scar under his right eye after a bike accident. **

Mr. Stevens sighed and continued.

**Moving on. Fred Dukes Jr. Son of Fred Dukes Sr. and Megan Wilbur, who kept her maiden name. Both parents have super strength and currently professional wrestlers. **

**Normal physique is the only trait listed. **

**Then, Diana Maximoff. Daughter of famous fashion designers Pietro and Melody Maximoff. Super speed and hypnotic voice are their superpowers. **

**She is described to have long white hair to her back, grey eyes, and a 'knack for trouble.'**

"Oh dear."

**A set of twins. Elli and Raphael Wagner. Daughter and son of Kurt and Melinda Wagner. Father is a teacher at the Xavier Institute and mother is the owner of a local jewelry store.**

**Both have...blue fur, blue skin, and yellow eyes? Odd. Oh. Traits from the father ever since birth. Unlike the father, they have ordinary hands but have his feet. **

**Finally, Mortimer 'Mort' Tolansky. Son of Todd and Melanie Tolansky. Job descriptions aren't listed but powers are toad-like qualities and mimickry. **

**Son is described to have green skin, which resembles a frog. **

"Thank goodness tonight I get to meet all these people."

He looked towards his door and saw the new computer teacher, Mr. Forge, carrying some machines.

"Mr. Forge!"

"H-Hey, Carl. Can't talk now."

Mr. Forge quickly ran outside and towards his classroom, which was once his old lab.

------------------------------

That night, the room was crowded with people, all of whom knew each other.

Mr. Stevens observed the married couples. Most of them had very fit physique, except the Mr. Dukes, who was very large. Mr. Tolansky looked pale and was hunched over but appeared fine. That was until he got a nearby fly with his long green tongue.

He was shocked to see four of the women were idential. He had remembered hearing about them years ago, the Wilbur sixtuplets. After Mandy was killed in a car accident, they stopped calling themselves that.

The men were all very buff, which made Mr. Stevens hope they were all friends. Most of them were in suits, Mr. Maximoff because he wanted to, others because they wanted to make a good first impression.

Mr. Wagner was different than Mr. Stevens expected. He had blue hair, blue fur, only three fingers on each hand, and a tail. Of course, right now, that tail was wrapped around his wife's waist as he whispered in her ear.

-------------------------------------

Lance looked over to Kitty as he brushed back his long hair.

"K-Kitty. Are you sure Nathan will be okay? Maybe we should just keep him at the Xavier place."

She, with her now short hairstyle, laughed.

"Don't worry. Our boy's got a good head on his shoulder. He did get my smarts."

"Yeah but he's got my wild streak. I don't want him getting hurt. I was expelled! Remember?"

"Because that no good Kelly tricked you!"

She took his hand in hers.

"He'll be fine."

-------------------

Malcolm and Isabella were focused on trying not to panic. They both had to go back to New York City and their son, Victoire, was going to stay at the Institute.

"You sure he'll be fine?"

"Positive, Isa. He'll love it."

She sighed.

"I never thought it would be this hard."

------------------------

Pietro was drawing at super speed as his wife watched.

"A nice drop here, a few embroidered patterns here,"

She kissed him on the cheek.

"You're amazing. Its no wonder you're the top designer in the county."

He kissed her on the lips.

"We are. Its the both of us. I just draw fast. You always give me inspiration."

"And Diana?"

He groaned.

"She has my superspeed. I hope she's careful. There is a lot that could happen to her!"

He turned and looked to Blob.

----------------------------------

Fred groaned as Pietro looked over to him.

"Pietro still look mad, Freddie?"

"Yeah. It ain't my fault Diana almost got hit last practice!"

Megan smiled and rubbed her hands on his bald skull.

"Did I tell you he lifted an armored car full of gold bricks?!"

"Eight times, Freddie."

"O-Oh."

She laughed.

"He's an amazing boy."

---------------------------------

Todd and Melanie looked out the classroom window.

"We should sneak into one of the classrooms and fool around."

"Todd!"

"We did it a million times before I got expelled!"

"And I'm sure you remembered how I had to turn us invisible in the middle of it when we were in Kelly's office?"

"The idiot had no idea we were there and we still kept at it!"

She blushed and smacked his arm.

"Love you, Sugar Plum."

"Love you too, my Toad Prince."

"You think Mort's gonna be like me?"

"We can only dream."

-------------------------

Kurt's tail rubbed Melinda's swollen stomach.

_"Number five."_

_"Should we go with another German name?"_

Kurt laughed.

_"Why break the pattern?"_

_"I can't believe how fortunate we are. Two healthy 16-year-olds, a curious ten-year-old, Verena, our little 5-year-old, Ulrich, and this-" _

She groaned and rubbed a spot.

_"Our little kicker."_

_"Did he hurt you again?"_

_"He's just anxious to get out."_

Kurt kissed Melinda's cheek.

_"I love you."_

_"I love you too."_

-----------------------

"Um, if I could get this started?" Mr. Stevens said standing up.

The parents all looked forward.

"Where are your children now?"

"They're exploring the grounds with our old friend."

"I take it they all get along well?"

Pietro looked over to Blob.

"As long as someone's boy doesn't nearly throw a boulder at my daughter."

"Pietro! It was target practice and she distracted him!"

Melanie looked over to Kurt and Melinda.

"Mort and the twins work very well together."

Isabella glanced around nervously.

"V-Victoire is new to the area."

Malcolm put his hand on her shoulder.

"We're putting him in your capable hands, Mr. Stevens."

The door suddenly opened and a young girl zoomed into the room. She had long white hair, grey eyes, and wore a pink shirt and jeans.

"I didn't do it!"

They looked at her curiously before a large explosion shook the school.

"The kids!"

A large puff of fire teleported all of the kids into the room, thanks to the teleporting ability of Elli and Raphael. The kids were all covered in black soot and were coughing.

"What happened?"

"Are you guys okay?"

Melanie pulled out a water bottle and handed it to Mort. He dumped it over his head until he could wipe the soot out of his large eyes.

"You okay, Mort?"

"We're sorry, Mom. We were working with Uncle Forge to find a way to turn coal into diamonds."

The parents brushed the kids off and laughed.

**The End**


End file.
